Citation: Chuanjian Cui, Zhuang Liu, Shiyu Yang, Qiang Wei, Jiahui Ding, Ziyang Xu, Changyong Zhang. Performance analysis of membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI): The relative insensitivity to feedwater temperatures[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(2): 111342. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111342 shu

Performance analysis of membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI): The relative insensitivity to feedwater temperatures

Chuanjian Cui ^a ,
Zhuang Liu ^b ,
Shiyu Yang ^c ,
Qiang Wei ^{d, *,} ,
Jiahui Ding ^a ,
Ziyang Xu ^a ,
Changyong Zhang ^{a, *,}

a.
CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
b.
Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development of Shallow Lakes, Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
c.
Chengdu Environment Investment Group Co., Ltd., Chengdu 610095, China
d.
School of Resources and Environment, Anqing Normal University, Anqing 246011, China

weiqiang07@ustc.edu.cn

changyongzhang@ustc.edu.cn

Received Date: 20 November 2024
Revised Date: 10 March 2025
Accepted Date: 16 May 2025
Available Online: 16 June 2025

Figures(5)

Raw water temperature can fluctuate significantly throughout the year, with peaks above 30 ℃ in summer and below 15 ℃ in winter. Traditional desalination systems (e.g., reverse osmosis, RO) face challenges under these varying temperature conditions. Specifically, while the RO system performs well under high temperatures, its efficiency decreases sharply at lower temperatures. Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) is considered as an emergent and promising technology for brackish water desalination. While plenty of studies have been devoted to investigating the impacts of raw water properties (e.g., salinity, coexisting ions, and natural organic matter) on MCDI performance, the role of water temperatures during the desalination remains under-explored. In this study, we first tested and determined the optimized MCDI operation parameters, such as the cell voltage and feedwater flow rate. Key findings showed that MCDI's salt removal efficiency remains unaffected by feedwater temperature fluctuations. However, as feedwater temperature increases from 15 ℃ to 40 ℃, the specific energy consumption for desalination slightly rises by 16.3%, and current efficiency drops by 14.1%. Compared to RO systems, the resilience of MCDI to temperature fluctuations makes it a preferable choice for brackish water treatment in areas with a large temperature difference.
- Reverse osmosis,
- Membrane capacitive deionization,
- Temperature fluctuations,
- Energy consumption,
- Current efficiency
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