Paul Akinyemi
Ph.D. Candidate, Clarkson University
Brackish water desalination is a compelling strategy for mitigating water scarcity by exploiting largely untapped water sources that are typically available in the form of groundwater. Electrochemical separations provide an energy-efficient alternative to conventional desalination technologies for low-concentration feeds at high water recovery ratios due to intrinsic energy benefits. Their versatile operating methods and tailorable membrane properties are suitable for mitigating potential problems associated with the challenging water matrix of brackish groundwater in a practical setting such as high hardness and alkalinity levels. One strategy involves utilizing redox reactions to facilitate salt separation through ion exchange membranes, which has been demonstrated to improve energy efficiency compared to electrodialysis and enhance water productivity relative to electrosorption. To harness the potential of redox-mediated separations for brackish water desalination, previous studies have explored a variety of redox reactions. However, the role of electrodes, electrolytes, and membranes on the desalination performance has been underexplored, although all of which not only provide critical functionalities for separations but are also affected by (influential to) the feed water composition under groundwater-relevant conditions. The overarching goal of this work is to provide fundamental insights into the individual performance of electrodes, electrolytes, and membranes, thus advancing the design of more efficient redox-mediated desalination systems for brackish water sources. To achieve this goal, three objectives are: (1) To determine how key system components (electrodes and flow channels) and operating conditions (current density and water recovery) affect desalination performance, using both experimental and modeling approaches; (2) To investigate the roles of cations electrokinetics and diffusional transport on redox reactions, using simulated and natural feedwaters; and (3) To evaluate the interplay between redox couple electrochemistry, structure, and concentration, and their effects on redox species crossover, osmotic water transport, and salt back-diffusion. These studies contribute to the development of an energy-efficient and environmentally benign method to achieve practical brackish water desalination.
Tuesday, 06-10-2025 at 12:30 pm
CAMP 372
Zoom link: https://clarkson.zoom.us/j/93225556725
Paul Akinyemi is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at Clarkson University, conducting research in the Green Electrochemical Research laboratory. Under the guidance of Dr. Taeyoung Kim, Paul is advancing research in electrochemical desalination technologies to tackle environmental and sustainability challenges within water–energy systems.