Amir M Ashrafi - Membrane Innovation Center, Pod Vinicí ۸۷, ۴۷۱ ۲۷ Stráž pod Ralskem, Czech Republic
Nupur Gupta - Membrane Technology Group, Faculty of Chemical Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box ۲۱۷, ۷۵۰۰ AE Enschede, the Netherlands

The effect of the reinforcement textile on the selectivity, water splitting capability and the energy consumption of the bipolar membrane (BM) was investigated with electrochemical methods. Two types of BMs were prepared which differ in the presence of the polyester textile as reinforcement. The electrochemical techniques including current-voltage curve, chronopotentiometry, and impedance spectroscopy were used to characterize the BMs. Furthermore, a lab scale module was used to perform the bipolar membrane electrodialysis (EDBM). The acid and base produced in EDBM process were also subjected to the further analysis to calculate the current efficiency, product purity and energy consumption of EDBM performed with each type of BM. The obtained results showed that the selectivity of the BM was improved after being reinforced with the polyester textile. However, the water splitting rate was not affected with reinforcing.The results obtained with electrochemical methods coincided with that of EDBM indicating their reliability.

Bipolar membrane electrodialysis, Reinforcement, chronopotentiometry, Impedance spectroscopy