Describing ion transport and water splitting in an electrodialysis stack with bipolar membranes by a 2-D model: Experimental validation

Electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM) has drawn attention motivated by their application in generating reagents from salts. Due to the water splitting (WS) occurring at the junction of the bipolar membranes (BPMs), where the anion and cation layers are in strict contact, H+ and OH- are released from the BPM producing acid and alkali on the respective compartment. Considering this application, the interest of this work is to provide further understanding of the mechanisms of WS and transport of species in EDBM. This work develops and utilizes, for the first time, an experimentally validated two-dimensional (2-D) computational model, in which the Navier-Stokes and Nernst-Planck equations are coupled with the description of WS given by the Second Wien effect. In addition, a 1-D geometry is also proposed to perform a comparison between electroneutrality and Poisson charge conservation. The model is computationally solved using COMSOL Multiphysics. According to simulations, electroneutrality is valid for 2-D geometries. Moreover, the semipermeable characteristics of the membranes are assessed by means of evidencing a polarization effect resulting in a double-electric layer. The model proposed predicts a significant proton leakage, and facilitates the study of WS within the BPMs.