Structure and Process Optimization for Highly‐Efficient Membrane Capacitive Deionization

To achieve a fluid uniform distribution, novel liquid distributors are introduced into a membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) cell. Herein, three fluid distributors with different structures are proposed, primarily including flow channels and distributed baffles. The effects of each liquid distributor on the fluid distribution are evaluated through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. As a result, Liquid distributor‐3 is demonstrated to be optimal, which can facilitate the fluid uniform distribution and relieve the impact of the inlet flow rate on the fluid distribution. Correspondingly, the adsorption capacity reaches up to 23.8 mg·g −1 for this novel MCDI cell under the 2000 mg·L −1 NaCl solution. To find a trade‐off between desalination performance and energy efficiency, a modified MCDI system based on two novel MCDI cells and three valves is established by analyzing three adsorption/desorption processes, including Process 1 (both adsorption and desorption in parallel), Process 2 (adsorption in series and desorption in parallel), and Process 3 (both adsorption and desorption in series). The best performance is obtained by Process 1, where the current efficiency increases by about 25% in the adsorption process and by about 37% during the desorption process compared with Process 3. This study lays a foundation for the commercial application of multicomponent MCDI technology.