CAPACITIVE DEIONIZATION OF NACL AND NANO3 SOLUTIONS WITH CARBON AEROGEL ELECTRODES

A process for the capacitive deionization of water with a stack of car bon aerogel electrodes has been developed by Lawrence Livermore Nation al Laboratory. Unlike ion exchange, one of the more conventional deion ization processes, no chemicals are required for regeneration of the s ystem. Electricity is used instead. Water with various anions and cati ons is pumped through the electrochemical cell. After polarization, io ns are electrostatically removed from the water and held in the electr ic double layers formed at the surfaces of electrodes. The water leavi ng the cell is purified, as desired. The effects of cell voltage and c ycling on the electrosorption capacities for NaCl and NaNO3 have been investigated and are reported here.