Design of cost-optimized village-scale electrodialysis systems for brackish water desalination

This thesis proposes methods of reducing the cost of electrodialysis brackish water desalination systems, specifically for use in rural India, where 60% of the groundwater is too saline to drink. Convergence of socioeconomic and technical factors led to the insight that photovoltaic (PV) powered electrodialysis (ED) has the potential for impact in rural water treatment. In order to design a system that can meet the necessary production requirements, a robust parametric model was created to predict the desalination rate, limiting current density, and total energy use in an ED system. The model agrees with experimental measurements across two diverse ED stack designs, differing in total membrane area, membrane manufacturers, and flow channel spacers. A commercial-scale ED stack was additionally tested in Chelluru, India, building confidence that the model is predictive for real groundwater, and that ED systems are feasible to operate in the rural Indian context.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Wright, Natasha C. (Natasha Catherine)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Amos G. Winter, V.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122204

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122204