Optimization of net power density in Reverse Electrodialysis

Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) extracts electrical energy from the salinity difference between two solutions using selective ion exchange membranes. In RED, conditions yielding a large net power density (NPD) are generally desired, due to the still large cost of the membranes. NPD depends on a large number of physical and geometric parameters. Some of these, for example the inlet concentrations of concentrate and diluate, can be regarded as “scenario” variables, imposed by external constraints (e.g., availability) or chosen by different criteria than NPD maximization. Others, namely the thicknesses HCONC, HDIL and the velocities UCONC, UDIL in the concentrate and diluate channels, can be regarded as free design parameters and can be chosen so as to maximize NPD. In the present study, a simplified model of a RED stack was coupled with an optimization algorithm in order to determine the conditions of maximum NPD in the space of the variables HCONC, HDIL,UCONC, UDIL for different sets of “scenario” variables. The study shows that an optimal choice of the free design parameters for any given scenario, as opposed to the adoption of standard fixed values for the same parameters, may provide significant improvements in NPD

Fluid-structure interaction and flow redistribution in membrane-bounded channels

The hydrodynamics of electrodialysis and reverse electrodialysis is commonly studied by neglecting membrane deformation caused by transmembrane pressure (TMP). However, large frictional pressure drops and differences in fluid velocity or physical properties in adjacent channels may lead to significant TMP values. In previous works, we conducted one-way coupled structural-CFD simulations at the scale of one periodic unit of a profiled membrane/channel assembly and computed its deformation and frictional characteristics as functions of TMP. In this work, a novel fluid-structure interaction model is presented, which predicts, at the channel pair scale, the changes in flow distribution associated with membrane deformations. The continuity and Darcy equations are solved in two adjacent channels by treating them as porous media and using the previous CFD results to express their hydraulic permeability as a function of the local TMP. Results are presented for square stacks of 0.6-m sides in cross and counter flow at superficial velocities of 1 to 10 cm/s. At low velocities, the corresponding low TMP does not significantly affect the flow distribution. As the velocity increases, the larger membrane deformation causes significant fluid redistribution. In the cross flow, the departure of the local superficial velocity from a mean value of 10 cm/s ranges between -27% and +39%

CFD Simulation of Mass Transfer Phenomena in Spacer Filled Channels for Reverse Electrodialysis Applications

Salinity Gradient Power via Reverse Electrodialysis is a topic of primary importance nowadays. It allows to get energy from the \u201ccontrolled\u201d mixing of solutions at different salt concentration. The performance of this technology depends on many factors such as: components properties (i.e. membranes, spacers, electrodes), stack geometry, operating conditions and feeds features. Concentration polarization phenomena may significantly affect the actual membrane potential, thus reducing the gross power produced. On the other hand, C-polarization phenomena may significantly be reduced by suitably choosing the hydrodynamic regime within the stack. Such a choice may in turn significantly require higher pumping power, thus reducing the net power output. In this work, carried out within the EU-FP7 funded REAPower project, CFD simulations were carried out in order to study the fluid flow behaviour and mass transport phenomena within spacer-filled channels for SGP-RE technology. The effect of different parameters (channel geometry, feed flow rate, feed solution concentration and current density) on concentration polarization was assessed. The well known unit cell approach was adopted for the simulations in order to reduce their computational requirements as well as to increase the level of detail. Results show that the electrical potential loss due to polarization phenomena should be regarded as little significant in the case of seawater-brine for the operating conditions and geometrical configurations investigated. Conversely, a great attention should be devoted to such phenomena when very diluted solutions are to be employed (e.g. river water)

Flow and mass transfer in spacer-filled channels for reverse electrodialysis: a CFD parametrical study

In reverse electrodialysis (RED) concentration polarization phenomena and pressure drop affect strongly the power output obtainable; therefore the channel geometry has a crucial impact on the system optimization. Both overlapped and woven spacers are commonly commercialised and adopted for RED experiments; the latter exhibit some potential advantages, such as better mixing and lower shadow effect, but they have been poorly investigated in the literature so far. In this work, computational fluid dynamics was used to predict fluid flow and mass transfer in spacer-filled channels for RED applications. A parametric analysis for different spacer geometries was carried out: woven (w) and overlapped (o) spacers with filaments at 90\ub0 were simulated, and Reynolds number, pitch to height ratio (l/h) and orientation with respect to the main flow (\u3b1=0\ub0 and \u3b1=45\ub0) were made to vary. The filament arrangement was found to be a crucial feature; for any given pumping power, higher Sherwood numbers were provided by the w-arrangement. The influence of flow attack angle and filament spacing depends on Reynolds number and filament arrangement. Only the configuration w-\u3b145 avoids the presence of poorly mixed zones near the wires. Among the cases investigated here, the configuration that provided the best mixing conditions was w, l/h=2, \u3b1=45\ub0

A multi-physics modelling tool for Reverse Electrodialysis

In this work, a multi-physics modelling approach has been developed for the RED process

Hydrodynamics and mass transfer in straight fiber bundles with non-uniform porosity

The present study investigates the effects of non-uniformity in a bundle's porosity by considering a model channel made up of "dense" (low porosity) and "loose" (high porosity) regions. In a first, simplified, approach these regions are treated as non-interacting porous media and previously obtained computational results are used for the Darcy permeability and the Sherwood number. In a second, and more complete, approach 3-D CFD simulations are conducted for a checkerboard arrangement of alternately "dense" and "loose" regions with square-arrayed fibers, accounting for entry effects and for interactions between regions. Non-uniformity causes a significant increase of the permeability and a strong reduction of the Sherwood number. These effects are larger, approaching those obtained for non-interacting regions, if the regions' length scale is large. The attainment of fully developed conditions is greatly shifted forward in non-uniform bundles and the mass transfer development length may largely exceed the physical length of most hollow-fiber devices

Ionic shortcut currents via manifolds in reverse electrodialysis stacks

Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is a blue energy technology for clean and sustainable electricity harvesting from the mixing entropy of salinity gradients. Recently, many efforts have been devoted to improving the performance of RED units by developing new ion-exchange membranes and by reducing the detrimental phenomena affecting the process. Among these sources of “irreversibility”, the shortcut currents (or parasitic currents) flowing through alternative pathways may affect the process efficiency. Although such phenomena occur in several electrochemical processes (e.g. fuel cells, bipolar plate cells and vanadium redox flow batteries), they have received a poor attention in RED units. In this work, a process simulator with distributed parameters was developed and experimentally validated to characterize the shortcut currents and to assess their impact in RED stack performance under different designs and operating conditions. Results showed that shortcut currents can play a crucial role in stacks with a large number of cell pairs when the electrical resistance of the parasitic pathways is relatively low, e.g. configurations with concentrated brines, high resistance membranes, short channels or large manifolds. Future designs of efficient industrial-scale units cannot ignore these aspects. Finally, the model can be easily adapted for the simulation of electrodialysis and other electromembrane processes