Researchers are putting a lot of effort into developing renewable energy technologies that are both efficient and environmentally friendly to meet the world's growing energy needs. One promising approach is harnessing salinity gradient energy (SGE), the energy created by differences in salt concentration, and converting it into electricity. Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is a membrane-based technology that makes this possible by using ionic concentration gradients to generate power. In this study, we explored how membrane configuration and the properties of feed solutions affect RED performance. To do this, we used electrodes made from carbon recovered from spent batteries, giving the process a sustainable twist. We measured power output in terms of power density and current density, running experiments with single and mixed salt solutions at concentrations between 10 and 30 g/L, as well as with model seawater. Our results showed that higher salt concentrations and the type of salts used significantly improved power generation. On the other hand, increasing the distance between membranes created longer ion transport paths, which reduced power density. Overall, these findings suggest that RED systems operating under high salinity gradients and using carbon electrodes sourced from battery waste could achieve energy efficiencies similar to conventional RED setups.
Abdurahman et al. (Fri,) studied this question.