Electrodialysis for wastewater treatment—Part I: Fundamentals and municipal effluents

Selectivity, high recovery, and chemical-free operation are strengths of electrodialysis. Different configurations have been proposed for several applications. Effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants (including sludge and supernatants), desalination plants, and animal farms can be treated for recovering water, nutrients, salts, and acids/bases. Although many applications are technoeconomically feasible and competitive with other zero liquid discharge systems, only a few real plants have been installed. However, the research is currently very active, thus paving the way for a widespread use at large scale in the next future.