Capacitive deionization based water desalination system using an MPPT based solar charge controller

This paper focuses on addressing the issue of potable water scarcity, prevalent in various parts of the world. There is a need to employ various expensive techniques to transform the brackish water to standard potable water. The traditional methods of brackish water desalination deployed, namely the Reverse Osmosis Technique (RO) and Distillation processes are expensive in implementation and operation. Capacitive Deionization is an energy efficient technology that provides an ideal alternative solution to this problem. It is a novel technique which removes salt ions from brackish water instead of removing pure water from brackish water like in the conventional reverse osmosis system. Thin film composite membranes of AEM Type-I and CEM Type-I are employed for collecting the respective ions which are separated by means of application of a low value of dc voltage. It requires the usage of significantly less direct current energy for operation. This proposed system is enhanced by the utilization of Solar Energy so as to incorporate the most abundant renewable energy source available. This paper proposes a model which exhibits extreme potential of application mainly in remote locations which are devoid of proper access to conventional sources of energy and WHO specified standard potable drinking water.