Selective Ion Separation in Electrochemical Systems for Water Purification and Lithium Extraction

Separation technologies play a key role in removing contaminants from water/wastewater and recovering valuable components from aqueous streams for a circular economy. Separation technologies from water and wastewater involve physical, chemical, and biochemical processes. Among all separation methods, electrochemical technology has the potential for a cleaner process that minimizes the use of chemical reagents, so that the generation of waste and by-products can be reduced. Electrochemical process can remove a wide range of organic and inorganic contaminants while only few or no additional chemicals are required for operation. Ion selectivity is worth studying because in many practical cases, removing the entirety of ions is not the purpose and one target ion is intended to be removed because of its toxicity or value. This dissertation focuses on selective ion separation by electrochemical technologies in both water purification and lithium extraction from brine based on membrane materials and electrode materials. Nitrate-selective and lithium-selective ion exchange membranes were demonstrated by hydrophobic polymer modification on membrane surface. And electrochemical lithium extraction systems were designed to generate high-purity lithium products from geothermal brines.

Author

• Kong, Lingchen

Language

• English

Date created

• 2024

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Civil & Environmental Engineering

Degree

• Ph.D.

Advisor

• Liu, Xitong

Committee Member(s)

• Liu, Chong
• Li, Tianshu
• Liu, Xitong
• Shuai, Danmeng
• Shen, Meng

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/jw827c814