Monopolar and Platinum Interfaced Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis: Experimental Assessment Using Synthetic Salt Solution Heterogeneous Cation Exchange Membranes

In this study, polystyrene ethylene butylene polystyrene (PSEBS) was functionalized to prepare mono and bipolar ion exchange membranes. In the case of the bipolar membrane, platinum was used as the intermediate layer. NaCl solution of concentration ranging from 5 g/L to 25 g/L was used as the feed solution. A commercially procured ion exchange membrane made of polystyrene divinyl benzene was also evaluated for the purpose of comparison. The BPMED performance reached the highest current efficiency of 69.54% and 53.6% with the energy consumption of 0.37 Wh and 1.39 Wh for the synthesized and commercial membranes, respectively. Also the performance of the fabricated unit was assessed in terms of electrical conductivity, salinity and ion (sodium and chloride) concentrations for the feed solution after 8-hour duration. The reproducibility performance of the membranes was also analyzed for the synthetic salt solution.