Ruthenium-Iridium Coated Titanium Mesh Electrode for Seawater Desalination

To cope with limited water resources, seawater desalination is now being widely regarded as the reliable solution to the ever increasing need for irrigation and potable water. It is a process of removing dissolved salts from seawater to produce fresh water for consumption.

As a potential alternative to the current reverse osmosis technology, electrodialysis processes are viewed as the flagship electro-driven technology for industrial-scale brackish water desalination. In an electrodialysis stack, the dilute feed stream and concentrate brine stream are allowed to flow through the appropriate cell compartments formed by alternating anion and cation selective membrane placed between two electrodes.

The life span of an electrode is dependent on the amperage applied to the electrode and the ionic composition of the source water. Owing to intrinsic conductivity, metal-oxide-based titanium electrodes have emerged as promising electrode materials for desalination process with presence of high amperages and large amounts of chlorides.