A feasibility study on water softening by electrodeionization with the periodic polarity change Original Research Article

Interests on the polarity reversal have increased to prevent or minimize membrane fouling and scaling during the operation of electromembrane processes. In this study, the influence of the operation conditions on the process efficiency was investigated in the electrodeionization reversal (EDIR) system with an electrodeionization with the polarity reversal. The removal efficiencies of divalent cations (Mg2+ and Ca2+) kept high value without scale formation on the membrane surface. Through the EDIR operation, the process performance was affected by polarity reversal periods, and the operating polarity reversal period was determined to 40 min or shorter in this study.