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Lab. on Chemical Redox Acceleration Technologies for Water Quality

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Electrodialysis with bipolar and cation exchange membrane for reuse of quaternary ammonium wastewater
Year of publication 2026
Title of paper Electrodialysis with bipolar and cation exchange membrane for reuse of quaternary ammonium wastewater
Author Minuk Joo, Sung-il Jeon, Seok Kim, Sungtae Kim, Chong Min Chung, Kangwoo Cho
Publication in journal Chemical Engineering Journal
Status of publication accepted
Vol 543, 177906
Link http://10.1016/j.cej.2026.177906 21회 연결

Quaternary ammonium species such as tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) are widely used industrial chemicals yet generating recalcitrant alkaline wastewater. We investigate the separation and enrichment of TMAH-laden wastewater by electrodialysis (ED). Three ED architectures were comparatively evaluated: conventional anion-cation-exchange (A-C) membrane pair, A-C with bipolar membrane (BP-A-C), and BP-C configuration. The BP-C configuration enabled the highest TMAH enrichment under sustained current, despite lower current efficiency. In parallel, dilute pH decrease (pH-swing) uniquely occurred in BP-C ED. Under an optimized feed volume ratio and stack voltage of BP-C ED, a repeated fresh-to-dilute followed by concentraterecycle (2-FD/CB-R) achieved recovered TMAH concentrations ~1.9 M (from 84 mM) with reduced process scale and competitive energy consumption. These findings offer a new paradigm for sustainable practices for industrial alkaline wastewater treatment coupled with resource recovery.