A Review Study on the Capacitive Desalination Set and Experimental Feasibility Study on Coupling of FCDI and Solar Energy

Producing potable water is a challenge for Middle Eastern countries including Iran. Hence, desalination technology has become one of the interesting subjects for researchers, especially in the last decade. In this field, capacitive deionization (CDI) has increasingly been studied. Advantages such as low energy usage, low cost, and smaller footprint, in fact, have made studies on such systems unavoidable. In recent years, throughout the world, many experimental studies have been conducted, and, thus, some sub models 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 feasibility study on coupling of flow-electrode CDI (FCDI) to solar energy is presented. In this regards, the FCDI cell is introduced. This study deployed solar panels directly to provide the energy required for the adsorption of ions. The results show that sea water is desalinated up to 50% in the first step by connecting a 2 W solar panel to an open mode FCDI;   afterwards, to achieve drinkable water, it was processed for 1 hour under a 0.75 W solar panel in a batch mode.