A review study on the capacitive desalination set, and experimental fasibility study on coupling of FCDI and solar energy

Producing pottable water is a challenge for Midle Eastern countries including Iran. Desalination technology has been one of interesting subjects for researchers especially in the last decade. In this field, capacitive deionazition (CDI) has been increasingly studied. Study on this system is unavoidable due to its advantages such as low energy usage, low cost, and smaller footprint. In recent years, in the world, many experimental studies have been conducted and some submodels have been suggested and developed based on EDL theorem for adsorption of ions. However, in Iran, in spite of water crisis, no serious study has been reported on the capacitive desalination. In the first part of the present study, the apparatus for the capacitive desalination is introduced and studies in this field are reviewed. In the second part, the results of an experimental fasibility study on coupling of flow-electrode CDI (FCDI) to solar energy is presented. In this regards, the FCDI cell is introduced. Solar panels are directly used to provide the energy needs for adsorption of ions. The results show that sea water was desalinated up to 50% in the first step by connecting a 2 W solar panel to an open mode FCDI and then to achieve drinkable water it was processed for 1 hour under a 0.75 W solar panel in a batch mode.