Research at KAUST’s Water Desalination and Reuse Center has given Bruce Logan’s microbial desalination cell a major power-up. By packing ion-exchange resins between alternating cation- and anion-exchange membranes, Pascal Saikaly’s team slashed solution resistance and nearly doubled salt-removal and power-density performance compared with resin-free cells.
“Only 1.25 litres of wastewater were needed to desalinate one litre of brackish water — a big leap toward cost-effective, energy-efficient operation,” says Saikaly.
The five-cell stack, dubbed SMEDIC, achieved a ≈ 90 % faster desalination rate at moderate–high salinities and slashed greenhouse-gas-intensive energy demand relative to reverse osmosis. The group is now widening the technology’s scope while developing other microbial approaches to reclaim both fresh water and energy from domestic wastewater.