Capacitive Deionization: Will it be the next Clean Technology Changing Our Lives (by Robert Atlas AquaEWP.com)
Capacitive Deionization (CDI) could be the next generation water treatment energy storage and alternative fuels technology. It’s very clean technology as it uses only electricity for its operation. In the future CDI might find its way into your life for water purifiers, disinfection, medical applications and conversion of algae to oil, to name a few.
CDI demineralizes water and water type fluids wit 100% solid state electronics. CDI uses low power DC voltage applied to electrodes made from a high surface area absorptive material. Water contaminants are attracted out of solution and held onto the surface of electrodes. It can remove any charged particle from water including bacteria, virus, metal ions, hardness, fats, proteins, organic carbon, dissolved solids or minerals, suspended solids, etc.
From the deposition contaminants onto the electrode an electrical charge results. Then at another part of the process, the voltage is reversed and the contaminants that were attracted out of solution, are again joined and discharged to waste. This cycle is repeated continuously.
In water purification this electrical charge is thrown away, because it’s at a level that is not very useful. But with energy storage this electrical charge can be turned into useful work and act like a battery. With conversion of algae to oil, the electrical field of charge can be valuable to break open the microbial cells where the oil resides, such as with seaweed and hundreds of other algae strains and liberate the oil, which can be as much as 40%. All algae are comprised of Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats and Nucleic Acids. It is this fatty acid (oil) that can be extracted and converted into a bio-oil.
When compared to devices of equal functionality, CDI devices operation and construction costs are less than any other method of water treatment. CDI uses no chemicals and has a small waste stream compared to other TDS reduction technologies. The fact that CDI devices are less expensive to build and operate, uses no chemicals, is low pressure, work fast, can remove bacteria, improve water to taste, remove odor, and improve chemistry in a single application make it the next generation of water or mineral soluble fluid treatment technology. One of the best features is that no maintenance is required, other than periodic cleaning of the electrodes, so no consumer will be inconvenienced by having to make arrangements for service personnel for maintenance contracts. Today there are thousands of CDI devices uses in homes, rural community water supplies, medical research and development, commercial buildings, schools, factories and produced water from coal bed methane gas production fields all over the world.
In the future there will be devices that purify water, create oil that is refined into gasoline, portable sterilizer, protein separation, homeland security devices to remove level 1 carcinogens and medical devices that prevent blood clots. In the not too distant future you might bring a portable & sterile water purifier with you before you even drink a glass of water. You will not find one single technology that has this powerful technology platform to that of CDI.
For more information check www.AquaEWP.COM
Tags: alternative fuels, blodd clots, disinfect, hardness, RO, water softening, water treatment
