title: Integrated experimental investigation and mathematical modeling of brackish water desalination and wastewater treatment in microbial desalination cells.
abstract: Desalination of brackish water can provide freshwater for potable use or non potable applications such as agricultural irrigation. Brackish water desalination is especially attractive to microbial desalination cells (MDCs) because of its low salinity, but this has not been well studied before. Herein, three brackish waters prepared according to the compositions of actual brackish water in three locations in Israel were examined with domestic wastewater as an electron source in a bench-scale MDC. All three brackish waters could be effectively desalinated with simultaneous wastewater treatment. The MDC achieved the highest salt removal rate of 1.2 g L(-1) d(-1) with an initial salinity of 5.9 g L(-1) and a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 0.8 d. The desalinated brackish water could meet the irrigation standard of both salinity (450 mg L(-1) TDS) and the concentrations of major ionic species, given a sufficient HRT. The MDC also accomplished nearly 70% removal of organic compounds in wastewater with Coulombic efficiency varied between 5 and 10%. A previously developed MDC model was improved for brackish water desalination, and could well predict salinity variation and the concentrations of individual ions. The model also simulated a staged operation mode with improved desalination performance. This integrated experiment and mathematical modeling approach provides an effective method to understand the key factors in brackish water desalination by MDCs towards further system development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Qingyun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ping
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA.
authors.forename: Zuyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dosoretz
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Electronic address: zhenhe@vt.edu.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D019149:Bioreactors; D007557:Israel; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry; D000068357:Saline Waters / Q000737:chemistry*; D054712:Salinity; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000737:chemistry; D013997:Time Factors; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Brackish water; Mathematical model; Microbial desalination cells; Microbial fuel cells; Wastewater