Microbial desalination cells packed with ion-exchange resin to enhance water desalination rate

A novel configuration of microbial desalination cell (MDC) packed with ion-exchange resin (R-MDC) was proposed to enhance water desalination rate. Compared with classic MDC (C-MDC), an obvious increase in desalination rate (DR) was obtained by R-MDC. With relatively low concentration (10–2 g/L NaCl) influents, the DR values of R-MDC were about 1.5–8 times those of C-MDC. Ion-exchange resins packed in the desalination chamber worked as conductor and thus counteracted the increase in ohmic resistance during treatment of low concentration salt water. Ohmic resistances of R-MDC stabilized at 3.0–4.7 Ω. By contrast, the ohmic resistances of C-MDC ranged from 5.5 to 12.7 Ω, which were 55–272% higher than those of R-MDC. Remarkable improvement in desalination rate helped improve charge efficiency for desalination in R-MDC. The results first showed the potential of R-MDC in the desalination of water with low salinity.