An ion-exchange membrane is a semi-permeable membrane that transports certain dissolved ions, while blocking other ions or neutral molecules. [1]
Ion-exchange membranes are therefore electrically conductive. They are often used in desalination and chemical recovery applications, moving ions from one solution to another with little passage of water. [2]
Important examples of ion-exchange membranes include the proton-exchange membranes, that transport H+
cations, and the anion exchange membranes used in certain alkaline fuel cells to transport OH−
anions.
An ion-exchange membrane is generally made of organic or inorganic polymer with charged (ionic) side groups, such as ion-exchange resins. Anion-exchange membranes contain fixed cationic groups with predominantly mobile anions; because anions are the majority species, most of the conductivity is due to anion transport. The reverse holds for cation-exchange membranes.
The so-called heterogeneous ion-exchange membranes have low cost and a thicker composition with higher resistance and a rough surface that can be subject to fouling. Homogeneous membranes are more expensive, but have a thinner composition with lower resistance and a smooth surface, less susceptible to fouling. Homogeneous membrane surfaces can be modified to alter the membrane permselectivity to protons, monovalent ions, and divalent ions. [3]
The selectivity of an ion-exchange membrane is due to Donnan equilibrium and not due to physically blocking or electrostatically excluding specific charged species.
The selectivity to the transport of ions of opposite charges is called its permselectivity. [3]
Ion-exchange membranes are traditionally used in electrodialysis or diffusion dialysis by means of an electrical potential or concentration gradient, respectively, to selectively transport cationic and anionic species. When applied in an electrodialysis desalination process, anion- and cation-exchange membranes are typically arranged in an alternating pattern between two electrodes (an anode and a cathode) within the electrodialysis stack. A galvanic potential is supplied as a voltage generated at the electrodes. [3]
A typical industrial electrodialysis stack consists of two chambers: a product-water chamber and a concentrate-reject chamber. During stack operation, salts are transferred from the product to the concentrate. As a result, the reject stream is concentrated up while the product stream is desalted. [3]
Exemplary applications of ion-exchange membranes utilized in electrodialysis and EDR include seawater desalination, industrial wastewater treatment of highly scaling waters, food and beverage production, and other industrial wastewaters. [3]
Semipermeable membrane is a type of biological or synthetic, polymeric membrane that will allow certain molecules or ions to pass through it by osmosis. The rate of passage depends on the pressure, concentration, and temperature of the molecules or solutes on either side, as well as the permeability of the membrane to each solute. Depending on the membrane and the solute, permeability may depend on solute size, solubility, properties, or chemistry. How the membrane is constructed to be selective in its permeability will determine the rate and the permeability. Many natural and synthetic materials which are rather thick are also semipermeable. One example of this is the thin film on the inside of the egg.
In chemistry, dialysis is the process of separating molecules in solution by the difference in their rates of diffusion through a semipermeable membrane, such as dialysis tubing.
An ion-selective electrode (ISE), also known as a specific ion electrode (SIE), is a transducer that converts the activity of a specific ion dissolved in a solution into an electrical potential. The voltage is theoretically dependent on the logarithm of the ionic activity, according to the Nernst equation. Ion-selective electrodes are used in analytical chemistry and biochemical/biophysical research, where measurements of ionic concentration in an aqueous solution are required.
Nafion is a brand name for a sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene based fluoropolymer-copolymer discovered in the late 1960s by Walther Grot of DuPont. Nafion is a brand of the Chemours company. It is the first of a class of synthetic polymers with ionic properties that are called ionomers. Nafion's unique ionic properties are a result of incorporating perfluorovinyl ether groups terminated with sulfonate groups onto a tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) backbone. Nafion has received a considerable amount of attention as a proton conductor for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells because of its excellent thermal and mechanical stability.
An artificial membrane, or synthetic membrane, is a synthetically created membrane which is usually intended for separation purposes in laboratory or in industry. Synthetic membranes have been successfully used for small and large-scale industrial processes since the middle of twentieth century. A wide variety of synthetic membranes is known. They can be produced from organic materials such as polymers and liquids, as well as inorganic materials. The most of commercially utilized synthetic membranes in separation industry are made of polymeric structures. They can be classified based on their surface chemistry, bulk structure, morphology, and production method. The chemical and physical properties of synthetic membranes and separated particles as well as a choice of driving force define a particular membrane separation process. The most commonly used driving forces of a membrane process in industry are pressure and concentration gradients. The respective membrane process is therefore known as filtration. Synthetic membranes utilized in a separation process can be of different geometry and of respective flow configuration. They can also be categorized based on their application and separation regime. The best known synthetic membrane separation processes include water purification, reverse osmosis, dehydrogenation of natural gas, removal of cell particles by microfiltration and ultrafiltration, removal of microorganisms from dairy products, and Dialysis.
Ion exchange is a reversible interchange of one kind of ion present in an insoluble solid with another of like charge present in a solution surrounding the solid with the reaction being used especially for softening or making water demineralised, the purification of chemicals and separation of substances.
Ion chromatography separates ions and polar molecules based on their affinity to the ion exchanger. It works on almost any kind of charged molecule—including large proteins, small nucleotides, and amino acids. However, ion chromatography must be done in conditions that are one unit away from the isoelectric point of a protein.
Electrodialysis reversal (EDR) is an electrodialysis reversal water desalination membrane process that has been commercially used since the early 1960s. An electric current migrates dissolved salt ions, including fluorides, nitrates and sulfates, through an electrodialysis stack consisting of alternating layers of cationic and anionic ion exchange membranes. Periodically, the direction of ion flow is reversed by reversing the polarity of the applied electric current.
A ChemFET is a chemically-sensitive field-effect transistor, that is a field-effect transistor used as a sensor for measuring chemical concentrations in solution. When the target analyte concentration changes, the current through the transistor will change accordingly. Here, the analyte solution separates the source and gate electrodes. A concentration gradient between the solution and the gate electrode arises due to a semi-permeable membrane on the FET surface containing receptor moieties that preferentially bind the target analyte. This concentration gradient of charged analyte ions creates a chemical potential between the source and gate, which is in turn measured by the FET.
Electrodialysis (ED) is used to transport salt ions from one solution through ion-exchange membranes to another solution under the influence of an applied electric potential difference. This is done in a configuration called an electrodialysis cell. The cell consists of a feed (dilute) compartment and a concentrate (brine) compartment formed by an anion exchange membrane and a cation exchange membrane placed between two electrodes. In almost all practical electrodialysis processes, multiple electrodialysis cells are arranged into a configuration called an electrodialysis stack, with alternating anion and cation-exchange membranes forming the multiple electrodialysis cells. Electrodialysis processes are different from distillation techniques and other membrane based processes in that dissolved species are moved away from the feed stream rather than the reverse. Because the quantity of dissolved species in the feed stream is far less than that of the fluid, electrodialysis offers the practical advantage of much higher feed recovery in many applications.
Osmotic power, salinity gradient power or blue energy is the energy available from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water. Two practical methods for this are reverse electrodialysis (RED) and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). Both processes rely on osmosis with membranes. The key waste product is brackish water. This byproduct is the result of natural forces that are being harnessed: the flow of fresh water into seas that are made up of salt water.
Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute is a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. The institute was inaugurated by Jawahar Lal Nehru on 10 April 1954 at Bhavnagar, in Gujarat.
Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a technology to deionize water by applying an electrical potential difference over two electrodes, which are often made of porous carbon. In other words, CDI is an electro-sorption method using a combination of a sorption media and an electrical field to separate ions and charged particles. Anions, ions with a negative charge, are removed from the water and are stored in the positively polarized electrode. Likewise, cations are stored in the cathode, which is the negatively polarized electrode.
Vibratory shear enhanced process (VSEP) is a membrane separation technology platform invented in 1987 and patented in 1989 by Dr. J. Brad Culkin. VSEP's vibration system was designed to prevent membrane fouling, or the build-up of solid particles on the surface of the membrane. VSEP systems have been applied in a variety of industrial environments.
A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Biological membranes include cell membranes ; nuclear membranes, which cover a cell nucleus; and tissue membranes, such as mucosae and serosae. Synthetic membranes are made by humans for use in laboratories and industry.
Electrodeionization (EDI) is a water treatment technology that utilizes electricity, ion exchange membranes and resin to deionize water and separate dissolved ions (impurities) from water. It differs from other water purification technologies in that it is done without the use of chemical treatments and is usually a polishing treatment to reverse osmosis (RO). There are also EDI units that are often referred to as continuous electrodeionization (CEDI) since the electric current regenerates the resin mass continuously. CEDI technique can achieve very high purity, with a conductivity below 0.1 μS/cm.
An alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AAEMFC), also known as anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), alkaline membrane fuel cells (AMFCs), hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells (HEMFCs), or solid alkaline fuel cells (SAFCs) is a type of alkaline fuel cell that uses an anion exchange membrane to separate the anode and cathode compartments.
Concentration polarization is a term used in the scientific fields of electrochemistry and membrane science.
A microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a biological electrochemical system that implements the use of electro-active bacteria to power desalination of water in situ, resourcing the natural anode and cathode gradient of the electro-active bacteria and thus creating an internal supercapacitor. Available water supply has become a worldwide endemic as only .3% of the earth's water supply is usable for human consumption, while over 99% is sequestered by oceans, glaciers, brackish waters, and biomass. Current applications in electrocoagulation, such as microbial desalination cells, are able to desalinate and sterilize formerly unavailable water to render it suitable for safe water supply. Microbial desalination cells stem from microbial fuel cells, deviating by no longer requiring the use of a mediator and instead relying on the charged components of the internal sludge to power the desalination process. Microbial desalination cells therefore do not require additional bacteria to mediate the catabolism of the substrate during biofilm oxidation on the anodic side of the capacitor. MDCs and other bio-electrical systems are favored over reverse osmosis, nanofiltration and other desalination systems due to lower costs, energy and environmental impacts associated with bio-electrical systems.
Voltea is a water technology company based in Dallas, Texas. The company is led by its CEO Bryan Brister.