Boron Removal From Wastewater with Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis

The boron removal process using electrodialysis technique combined with bipolar membrane water splitting reaction was investigated. With the bipolar membrane water splitting reaction, pH of boron contained aqueous solutions is controlled at an adequate value for the electrodialytic boron removal. The batch-mode studies were performed so as to confirm the performance of the bipolar membrane electrodialysis in the boron removal. The effects of boron concentration, pH, concentration of co-existing anion, and applied voltage were investigated. The boron removal ratio over 90% was achieved in a wide range of boron concentration, pH and co-existing anion concentration. The current efficiency was improved with decreasing pH, concentration of coexisting anion, and with increasing applied voltage. The results showed that the power requirement decrease with decreasing boron concentration, pH, and concentration co-existing anion. The results also showed that higher applied voltage enables to remove boron from aqueous solutions at higher removal ratio.