Membrane-Assisted Electrochlorination for Zero-Chemical-Input Point-of-Use Drinking Water Disinfection

Due to the challenges of providing centralized drinking water infrastructure in low-income and rural settings, point-of-use (POU) disinfection systems are an attractive option for enhancing access to safe drinking water. Electrochlorinators offer an easily scalable and adaptable alternative to POU disinfection systems that require frequent replenishment and accurate dosing of chlorine, but they also require addition of salts on a regular basis. To address this need, we developed an electrochemical disinfection system that efficiently produces chlorine without any chemical inputs. To convert the low concentration of chloride in source waters (i.e., 10-200 mg L^-1) to free chlorine (i.e., HOCl/OCl^-), an anion exchange membrane was positioned between two electrodes, creating two separate chambers. By providing continuous water flow through the catholyte while operating the anolyte in the batch mode, chloride was concentrated into the anolyte, where it was more efficiently converted into chlorine. This approach allowed us to produce chlorine at rates that were about 50% faster than that of an undivided cell operating under similar conditions. Chlorate production was approximately 20% slower in the separated cell compared to an undivided cell; concentrations in finished water never exceeded the World Health Organization's provisional guideline value of 0.7 mg L^-1. The performance of the system was further improved by retaining some of the anolyte between operating cycles. This helped avoid periods of high cell potential before salts were concentrated in the anolyte chamber. Use of an anion exchange membrane and a recycled anolyte mode of operation reduced energy consumption by 30%-70% relative to an undivided cell. The energy required to disinfect water ranged from approximately 0.05 to 1 kWh m^-3, depending on the chloride content and conductivity of the source water.