Electricity generation by reverse electrodialysis

Abstract

Electricity generation by Reverse Elctrodialysis (RED) process is one of the alternative energyavailable. In this paper the concept of RED is introduced together with the experimental results concerning thereduction of the internal resistance of the RED cell in order to minimize the voltage potential loss and improvethe prospect of using clean and energy-efficienct utilization. By increasing the surface area of electrodes themaximum power obtained increased from 16.59 micro watt to 116.29 micro watt, while the internal resistanceof the RED cell reduced from 1,213.48 ohm to 80.89 ohm. In principle it is possible to use the RED to generateelectricity by using potential of salinity gradient at the point where the river meets the sea. However the REDstill needed more development and study before widely adopted while the investment cost and break evenpoint remained the main obstacles which need to be overcome.