Related EU Projects

New ED aims at closing industrial water cycles and reducing the amount of waste water streams with highly concentrated salt loads stemming from a broad range of industrial production processes by exploiting the waste components (salts) and transforming them to valuable products. This will be achieved by developing new nanoporous bipolar membranes for electrodialysis using bipolar membranes (EDBM), a new membrane module concept and by integrating this new technology into relevant production processes.

The bipolar membrane process produces acids and bases from their corresponding salts by dissociating water at the interface within the bipolar membranes. However, EDBM so far has been applied only in niche markets due to limitations of the current state of membrane and process development. Major drawbacks of the classic EDBM process are low product purity, limited current density and formation of metal hydroxides at or in the bipolar membrane. The objective of this project is to overcome these limitations by developing a new bipolar membrane and membrane module with a new water transport concept into the inner layer of the bipolar membranes.

Several promising membrane configurations will be developed and tested. New module concepts will be investigated to exploit the full potential of the new bipolar membrane technique. Integration of the developed membranes and modules into relevant production processes is an essential part of the project.

The strategic aim of New ED is inline with the vision document and strategic research agenda put forward in 2006 by WSSTP (Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform) on a European level that specifically asks for recovery of materials from brines, treatment of brines from specific processes and development of technologies for treatment of concentrated salt streams.

A "Critical review and assessment on the preparation of experimental as well as commercially available bipolar membranes" has been prepared and will be made available through scientific publications. The executive summary summarizes the extent of the review. http://www.new-ed.eu/uploads/media/NEW_ED_Deliverable_D.1.1_executive_summary.pdf

A "Market study of potential applications for the developed technologies and products" has been prepared and will be made available through scientific publications. The executive summary summarizes the extent of the review. http://www.new-ed.eu/uploads/media/NEW_ED_Deliverable_D.4.1_executive_summary.pdf

This deliverable is a final report of preparation and characterization of structured interfaces in bipolar electrodialysis membranes for enhanced water-splitting productivity. Here the four manufacturing approaches followed within the project were compared and contrasted.

This deliverable is part of WP2 of the project, which dealt with module design and module construction. Here reduction of parasitic current along with design and manufacturing of resistant spacers is reported. CFD computations as well as electrical circuit simulations were performed to help decide upon the most appropriate spacer design. In addition, limiting current density experiments were carried out to evaluate the manufactured spacers.

The report deals with the possibilities of the treatment of large ecologically relevant process and wastewater streams by bipolar electrodialysis systems developed within the New ED project. Here results from a lab-scale study applying the new bipolar membrane concept are presented. The case-study was conducted on the process water of the project partner Bayer Material Science. Bayer process water contains significant amount of sodium chloride which is emitted at the end of the polycarbonate production line.

In the final project report, the executive summary summarizes the extent of the report. http://www.new-ed.eu/uploads/media/New-ED_final-project-report_executive_summary.pdf