Design and Performance Evaluation of a Multi-Stack Membrane Capacitive Deionization System with High-Efficiency Cell-to-Cell Energy Recovery

Abstract

This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of a multi-stack Membrane Capacitive Deionization (MCDI) system incorporating a high-efficiency Cell-to-Cell energy recovery method. For the commercialization of MCDI systems, scale-up modules and reducing energy methods in multi-stack modules has not been sufficiently validated. To address this, a 32-stack MCDI module and a high efficiency DC/DC converter were designed to verify the feasibility of energy recovery in a scaled-up system. Additionally, an operating algorithm was introduced to ensure stable system operation. A prototype was developed and experimentally tested. The results demonstrated a 67.6% reduction in energy consumption compared to conventional methods, confirming the efficiency and scalability of the proposed system.