Enhanced separation of monovalent and divalent ions in high salinity wastewater by selective electrodialysis: Experimental investigation and performance prediction

To fulfill the industrial requirements of salt fractionation and recovery from saline wastewater, a two-chamber selective electrodialysis (SED) stack incorporating commercial monovalent selective anion exchange membranes was employed and investigated in this study. Three different initial concentration ratios of NaCl/Na2SO4, namely 1:1 (10 g/L:10 g/L), 3:1 (30 g/L:10 g/L), and 5:1 (50 g/L:10 g/L) were examined to simulate various scenarios of saline wastewater. The influence of applied current density on membrane selectivity and overall system efficiency was further evaluated. The results indicated that an increase in the NaCl fraction within the feed solution directly correlates with enhanced concentration and purity of Na2SO4 in the product, achieving purities exceeding 92 %. A lower current density contributed to improved concentration and purity of Na2SO4, whereas higher current densities were conducive to augmenting the concentration and purity of NaCl. Additionally, a linear correlation was observed between the volumetric water transport and NaCl migration. Through numerical simulations, the concentrations of Na2SO4 and NaCl in the effluent were predicted, facilitating a comparative analysis with the salt fractionation efficiency of commercial nanofiltration (NF) membranes. Subsequent assessments of energy consumption and current efficiency revealed that the SED system ensured high product concentration and purity at reasonably low energy consumption (0.22–0.28 kWh per kg NaCl) alongside a high current efficiency (83–89 %). These findings offer critical insights into the optimization of salt fractionation process and highlight its economic and technical feasibility for the sustainable management of industrial saline wastewater.