Theory of shock electrodialysis I: Water dissociation and electrosmotic vortices

Abstract

Shock electrodialysis (shock ED), an emerging electrokinetic process for water purification, leverages the new physics of deionization shock waves in porous media. In previous work, a simple leaky membrane model with surface conduction can explain the propagation of deionization shocks in a shock ED system, but it cannot quantitatively predict the deionization and conductance (which determines the energy consumption), and it cannot explain the selective removal of ions in experiments. This two-part series of work establishes a more comprehensive model for shock ED, which applies to multicomponent electrolytes and any electrical double layer thickness, captures the phenomena of electroosmosis, diffusioosmosis, and water dissociation, and incorporates more realistic boundary conditions. In this paper, we will present the model details and show that hydronium transport and electroosmotic vortices (at the inlet and outlet) play important roles in determining the deionization and conductance in shock ED. We also find that the results are quantitatively consistent with experimental data in the literature. Finally, the model is used to investigate design strategies for scale up and optimization.