Ion Exchange Membranes for Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) Applications - Recent Developments

Abstract

The innovative membrane-based technology called reverse electrodialysis (RED) is capable of producing electrical power from the controlled mixing of two aqueous streams of different salinity. There has been tremendous progress so far in the development of RED process in terms of system development, spacer design, membranes properties and operational conditions optimization. Among those, characteristics of the ion exchange membranes are found to be the critical element affecting the performances of RED process. In this respect, a brief overview of the latest developments in ion exchange membranes were presented in this review, focussing on their properties and performances in RED applications. The recent developments of nanocomposite and ion selective membranes, particularly pore filling ion exchange membranes due to their high performances and inexpensive fabrication cost were also summarized. Shortly, fouling problem for the ion exchange membranes employed in the RED system was mentioned. © 2021 Amirkabir University of Technology - Membrane Processes Research Laboratory. All rights reserved.