Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble Modeling
Polyelectrolyte hydrogels can absorb a large amount of water across an osmotic membrane as a result of their swelling pressure. On the other hand, the insoluble cross-linked hydrogel network enables dewatering under the influence of external (thermal and/or mechanical) stimuli. Moreover, from a ther...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Gels |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/8/10/656 |
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| author | Mikhail Laktionov Lucie Nová Oleg V. Rud |
| author_facet | Mikhail Laktionov Lucie Nová Oleg V. Rud |
| author_sort | Mikhail Laktionov |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Polyelectrolyte hydrogels can absorb a large amount of water across an osmotic membrane as a result of their swelling pressure. On the other hand, the insoluble cross-linked hydrogel network enables dewatering under the influence of external (thermal and/or mechanical) stimuli. Moreover, from a thermodynamic perspective, a polyelectrolyte hydrogel is already an osmotic membrane. These properties designate hydrogels as excellent candidates for use in desalination, at the same time avoiding the use of expensive membranes. In this article, we present our recent theoretical study of polyelectrolyte hydrogel usage for water desalination. Employing a coarse-grained model and the Gibbs ensemble, we modeled the thermodynamic equilibrium between the coexisting gel phase and the supernate aqueous salt solution phase. We performed a sequence of step-by-step hydrogel swellings and compressions in <i>open</i> and <i>closed</i> systems, i.e., in equilibrium with a large and with a comparably small reservoir of aqueous solution. The swelling in an <i>open system</i> removes ions from the large reservoir, whereas the compression in a <i>closed system</i> decreases the salt concentration in the small reservoir. We modeled this stepwise process of continuous decrease of water salinity from seawater up to freshwater concentrations and estimated the energy cost of the process to be comparable to that of reverse osmosis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:11:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-876037bdb1f3427199b393ce68c79efa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2310-2861 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:11:45Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Gels |
| spelling | doaj.art-876037bdb1f3427199b393ce68c79efa2023-11-24T00:13:46ZengMDPI AGGels2310-28612022-10-0181065610.3390/gels8100656Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble ModelingMikhail Laktionov0Lucie Nová1Oleg V. Rud2Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, 12800 Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, 12800 Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, 12800 Prague, Czech RepublicPolyelectrolyte hydrogels can absorb a large amount of water across an osmotic membrane as a result of their swelling pressure. On the other hand, the insoluble cross-linked hydrogel network enables dewatering under the influence of external (thermal and/or mechanical) stimuli. Moreover, from a thermodynamic perspective, a polyelectrolyte hydrogel is already an osmotic membrane. These properties designate hydrogels as excellent candidates for use in desalination, at the same time avoiding the use of expensive membranes. In this article, we present our recent theoretical study of polyelectrolyte hydrogel usage for water desalination. Employing a coarse-grained model and the Gibbs ensemble, we modeled the thermodynamic equilibrium between the coexisting gel phase and the supernate aqueous salt solution phase. We performed a sequence of step-by-step hydrogel swellings and compressions in <i>open</i> and <i>closed</i> systems, i.e., in equilibrium with a large and with a comparably small reservoir of aqueous solution. The swelling in an <i>open system</i> removes ions from the large reservoir, whereas the compression in a <i>closed system</i> decreases the salt concentration in the small reservoir. We modeled this stepwise process of continuous decrease of water salinity from seawater up to freshwater concentrations and estimated the energy cost of the process to be comparable to that of reverse osmosis.https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/8/10/656polyelectrolye hydrogelsimulationdesalination |
| spellingShingle | Mikhail Laktionov Lucie Nová Oleg V. Rud Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble Modeling Gels polyelectrolye hydrogel simulation desalination |
| title | Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble Modeling |
| title_full | Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble Modeling |
| title_fullStr | Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble Modeling |
| title_full_unstemmed | Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble Modeling |
| title_short | Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble Modeling |
| title_sort | water desalination using polyelectrolyte hydrogel gibbs ensemble modeling |
| topic | polyelectrolye hydrogel simulation desalination |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2310-2861/8/10/656 |
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