Simulation of bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) units by a validated process model

2022

The BMED technology can be used for the production or the regeneration of acid and base solutions by water dissociation. BMED has practical applications in several fields including in chemical and biochemical industry, environmental protection and, recently, even for brine valorisation. Many are the irreversibility sources involved in the BMED process. Some of them are related to the non-ideal transport properties of the Ion Exchange Membranes causing undesired co-ion leakages and water flux. Furthermore, the presence of shunt currents through the manifolds (i.e. distributors and collectors of the solutions) decrease the current efficiency. The aim of this work is to give a quantitative des…

A comprehensive multi-scale process model of bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) systems

Bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) uses electrical energy to produce acidic and alkaline solutions by water dissociation. Its great versatility has increasingly gained the interest in chemical/biochemical industry and in environmental protection. Co-ion leakages through the membranes and shunt currents pose major issues leading to significant drops in current efficiency. This work focuses on the development of a novel model based on a multi-scale approach. Four different dimensional scales were fully integrated within a comprehensive simulating tool with distributed parameters. The lowest scale, which is represented by the channel, includes two sub-models. The CFD simulations sub-level…