Electrodialytic desalination of brackish water: effect of process parameters and water characteristics

The aim of this work is to study the desalination of brackish water using a laboratory scale electrodialysis cell. The influence of several parameters, such as flow rates, initial feed concentration, applied voltage and circulation mode on process efficiency were studied. This efficiency is evaluated by the demineralization rate, ionic flux transport and current efficiency. In this study, experiments were carried out on synthetic brackish water solutions prepared from sodium chloride salts. The concentrations of these solutions are varying from 0.5 to 3 g L^?1. The process was applied for the treatment of real brackish water sample with total dissolved salts ～5 g L^?1. The concentrations of different species in the obtained treated water are below the amounts recommended by World Health Organization for drinking water.