As reported in the March 2012 issue of Desal Directions, University of South Australia researchers have conducted a series of NCEDA-funded trials to evaluate the performance of a portable commercial capacitive deionisation (CDI) unit.
The National Centre of Excellence in Desalination (NCEDA) was set up to create fresh ideas for sustainable water. (Image alongside courtesy Desal Directions.)
The CDI unit was developed by US-based AQUA EWP at Wilora, a remote community 250 km away from Alice Spring in the Northern Territory.
The trials found that the CDI unit demonstrated sufficient salinity and hardness removal ability at the remote brackish water source. The increased flow rate tend to decrease the overall TDS removal efficiency. However, in terms of energy efficiency, higher flow rate tends to be favourable.
At the current CDI unit configuration and local water conditions, 7L/min is recommended as the optimal operational parameter with an energy consumption of around 1.89kWh/m3 treated water. The total water recovery rate was between 75% and 80%.
[Read the full report in Desal Directions.]