TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of internal and external resistances on desalination in microbial desalination cell
AU - Rahman, Sadik
AU - Al-Mamun, Abdullah
AU - Jafary, Tahereh
AU - Alhimali, Halima
AU - Baawain, Mahad Said
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to extend their appreciation to Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Muscat, Oman, for the financial support through His Majesty’s Trust Fund (SR/ENG/CAED/17/01).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors
PY - 2021/5/15
Y1 - 2021/5/15
N2 - The green and cost-effective nature of the microbial desalination cell (MDC) make it a promising alternative for future sustainable desalination. However, MDC suffers from a low desalination rate that inhibits it being commercialized. External resistance (Rext) is one of the factors that significantly affect the desalination rate in MDCs, which is still under debate. This research, for the first time, investigated the impact of Rext on MDCs with different internal resistance (Rint) of the system to discover the optimal range of Rext for efficient MDC performance. The results showed that the effect of Rext on desalination rate (2.52 mg/h) was quite low when the Rint of MDC was high (200 Ω). However, operating the MDC with a low Rint (67 Ω) significantly improved the desalination rate (9.85 mg/h) and current generation. When MDC was operated with a low Rint the effect of variable Rext on desalination and current generation was noticeable. Therefore, low Rint (67 Ω) MDC was used to select the optimum Rext when the optimal range was found to be Rext ≪ Rint, Rext < Rint, Rext ≈ Rint (ranging from 1–69 Ω) to achieve the highest desalination rates (10.41–8.59 mg/h). The results showed the superior effect of Rint on desalination rate before selecting the optimal range of Rext in the outer circuit.
AB - The green and cost-effective nature of the microbial desalination cell (MDC) make it a promising alternative for future sustainable desalination. However, MDC suffers from a low desalination rate that inhibits it being commercialized. External resistance (Rext) is one of the factors that significantly affect the desalination rate in MDCs, which is still under debate. This research, for the first time, investigated the impact of Rext on MDCs with different internal resistance (Rint) of the system to discover the optimal range of Rext for efficient MDC performance. The results showed that the effect of Rext on desalination rate (2.52 mg/h) was quite low when the Rint of MDC was high (200 Ω). However, operating the MDC with a low Rint (67 Ω) significantly improved the desalination rate (9.85 mg/h) and current generation. When MDC was operated with a low Rint the effect of variable Rext on desalination and current generation was noticeable. Therefore, low Rint (67 Ω) MDC was used to select the optimum Rext when the optimal range was found to be Rext ≪ Rint, Rext < Rint, Rext ≈ Rint (ranging from 1–69 Ω) to achieve the highest desalination rates (10.41–8.59 mg/h). The results showed the superior effect of Rint on desalination rate before selecting the optimal range of Rext in the outer circuit.
KW - External resistance
KW - Internal resistance
KW - Microbial desalination cell
KW - | desalination rate
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106940865&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85106940865&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2166/wst.2021.145
DO - 10.2166/wst.2021.145
M3 - Article
C2 - 34032617
AN - SCOPUS:85106940865
SN - 0273-1223
VL - 83
SP - 2389
EP - 2403
JO - Water Science and Technology
JF - Water Science and Technology
IS - 10
ER -