E2.05 (formerly E3.1) Xu 2014 ReNUWIt Annual Meeting Poster

The difficulty to meet the increasing demand for freshwater has
driven municipalities and water utilities to explore the desalination of seawater, brackish waters, and reclaimed water as alternative water supplies. Concentrate disposal and management is a considerable challenge for the implementation of desalination technologies, especially for inland applications where concentrate disposal options are limited. Compared to reverse osmosis (RO), electrodialysis (ED) or electrodialysis reversal (EDR) are less prone to fouling and scaling, therefore require less stringent pre-treatment and are more tolerant to concentrate with high total dissolved solids (TDS) and total organic carbon (TOC). However, treatment of reclaimed water concentrate is a new application for ED and EDR. There is lack of understanding of ED performance and pretreatment requirements to enhance water recovery of reclaimed water and concentrate. It is imperative to demonstrate and optimize ED and EDR systems to be a viable and cost-effective concentrate treatment technology as well as to tailor product water quality for different beneficial uses.
In addition, metals and metalloids (e.g., arsenic, selenium, copper, lead, chromium, and boron) are found in groundwater aquifers or contaminated water. These contaminants are rejected during desalination process and accumulate in concentrate. Selective removal of these contaminants from concentrate will allow beneficial use of the concentrate and reduce environmental impact.