Gas permeable membrane electrode assembly with in situ utilization of authigenic acid and base for transmembrane electro-chemisorption to enhance ammonia recovery from wastewater

Zuobin Wang; Jiao Zhang; Zhiqiang Zhang; Qingbo Zhang; Beiqi Deng; Nan Zhang; Zhiyong Cao; Guangfeng Wei; Siqing Xia

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2024.121655

Gas permeable membrane electrode assembly with in situ utilization of authigenic acid and base for transmembrane electro-chemisorption to enhance ammonia recovery from wastewater

Water Res. 2024 Jul 1:258:121655. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121655. Epub 2024 Apr 26.

Authors

Zuobin Wang¹, Jiao Zhang², Zhiqiang Zhang³, Qingbo Zhang⁴, Beiqi Deng⁵, Nan Zhang⁵, Zhiyong Cao⁵, Guangfeng Wei⁶, Siqing Xia⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Key Laboratory of Urban Water Supply, Water Saving and Water Environment Governance in the Yangtze River Delta of Ministry of Water Resources, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; National Engineering Research Center of Dredging Technology and Equipment, Key Laboratory of Dredging Technology, CCCC, Shanghai 200082, China; Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China.
² School of Municipal and Ecological Engineering, Shanghai Urban Construction Vocational College, Shanghai 200432, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Key Laboratory of Urban Water Supply, Water Saving and Water Environment Governance in the Yangtze River Delta of Ministry of Water Resources, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: zhiqiang@tongji.edu.cn.
⁴ National Engineering Research Center of Dredging Technology and Equipment, Key Laboratory of Dredging Technology, CCCC, Shanghai 200082, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Key Laboratory of Urban Water Supply, Water Saving and Water Environment Governance in the Yangtze River Delta of Ministry of Water Resources, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China.
⁶ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.

PMID: 38762914
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121655

Abstract

Ammonia recovery from wastewater is of great significance for aquatic ecology safety, human health and carbon emissions reduction. Electrochemical methods have gained increasing attention since the authigenic base and acid of electrochemical systems can be used as stripper and absorbent for transmembrane chemisorption of ammonia, respectively. However, the separation of electrodes and gas permeable membrane (GPM) significantly restricts the ammonia transfer-transformation process and the authigenic acid-base utilization. To break the restrictions, this study developed a gas permeable membrane electrode assembly (GPMEA), which innovatively integrated anode and cathode on each side of GPM through easy phase inversion of polyvinylidene fluoride binder, respectively. With the GPMEA assembled in a stacked transmembrane electro-chemisorption (sTMECS) system, in situ utilization of authigenic acid and base for transmembrane electro-chemisorption of ammonia was achieved to enhance the ammonia recovery from wastewater. At current density of 60 A/m², the transmembrane ammonia flux of the GPMEA was 693.0 ± 15.0 g N/(m²·d), which was 86 % and 28 % higher than those of separate GPM and membrane cathode, respectively. The specific energy consumption of the GPMEA was 9.7∼16.1 kWh/kg N, which were about 50 % and 25 % lower than that of separate GPM and membrane cathode, respectively. Moreover, the application of GPMEA in the ammonia recovery from wastewater is easy to scale up in the sTMECS system. Accordingly, with the features of excellent performance, energy saving and easy scale-up, the GPMEA showed good prospects in electrochemical ammonia recovery from wastewater.

Keywords: Ammonia recovery; Authigenic acid and base; Gas permeable membrane electrode assembly; In situ utilization; Transmembraneelectro-chemisorption.

MeSH terms

Ammonia* / chemistry
Electrochemical Techniques
Electrodes*
Membranes, Artificial
Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods
Wastewater* / chemistry
Water Pollutants, Chemical / chemistry

Substances

Ammonia
Wastewater
Membranes, Artificial
Water Pollutants, Chemical