Brackish groundwater desalination by constant current membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI): results of a long-term field trial in Central Australia

A long-term field trial of membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) was conducted in a remote community in the Northern Territory of Australia, with the aim of producing safe palatable drinking water from groundwater that contains high concentrations of salt and hardness ions and other contaminants. This trial lasted for 1.5 years, which, to our knowledge, is one of the longest reported studies of pilot-scale MCDI field trials. The 8-electrode MCDI pilot unit reduced salt concentration to below the Australian Drinking Water Guideline value of 600 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration with a relatively high water recovery of 71.6 ± 8.8%. During continuous constant current operation and discharge at near zero volts, a rapid performance deterioration occurred that was attributed to insufficient desorption of multivalent ions from the porous carbon electrodes. Performance could be temporarily recovered using chemical cleaning and modified operating procedures however these approaches could not fundamentally resolve the issue of insufficient electrode performance regeneration. Constant current discharge of the electrodes to a negative voltage was hence employed to enhance the stability and overall performance of the MCDI unit during the continuous operation. An increase in selectivity of monovalent ions over divalent ions was also attained by implementing negative voltage discharging. The energy consumption of an MCDI system with a capacity of 1000 m3/day is projected to be 0.40∼0.53 kWh/m3 which is comparable to the energy consumption of electrodialysis reversal (EDR) and brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) systems of the same capacity. The relatively low maintenance requirements of the MCDI system rendered it the most cost efficient water treatment technology for deployment in remote locations. The LCOW of an MCDI system with a capacity of 1000 m3/day is projected to be AU$1.059/m3 and AU$1.146/m3, respectively. Further investigation of particular water-energy trade-offs among MCDI performance metrics are required to facilitate broader application of this promising water treatment technology.