Date of Award
2025-12-01
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Civil Engineering
Advisor(s)
Ivonne Santiago
Abstract
Electrodialysis (ED) can become a key technology for treating brine obtained during desalination with reverse osmosis (RO). Brine disposal can pose as a challenge specially within inland desalination facilities, due to the high salinity content of brine usually discharge in any form can have environmental impacts. This investigation provides insight of ED as a brine management technology by using a laboratory scale stack to test commercially available membranes. The RO concentrate used was gathered from Kay Bailley Hutchison (KHB) RO facility in El Paso, Texas. While testing different membrane configurations under controlled conditions, the system was monitoring conductivity and current over time. Experimental testing with two different voltages (0.4V and 0.8V) was performed to understand the effect of voltage with high salinity water in ED. The observed diluate conductivity removal percentage ranged from 8.06% to 16.48% while the total specific energy consumption (SEC) ranged from 5.45 to 31.57 kWh/m3. Monovalent selective membrane configurations demonstrated lower SEC, with retention of desalination properties even at low voltage applied. These findings validate the use of ED to treat brine from RO systems, with a potential for larger scale applications.
Language
en
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Copyright Date
2025-12
File Size
54 p.
File Format
application/pdf
Rights Holder
Jorge Alvidrez
Recommended Citation
Alvidrez, Jorge, "Evaluation Of Electrodialysis For Brine Management Inland Brackish Desalination" (2025). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 4507.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/4507
Included in
Civil Engineering Commons, Environmental Engineering Commons, Water Resource Management Commons