Versatile applications of electrochemical flow-through systems in water treatment processes

Nowadays, water pollution and freshwater scarcity are two of the most significant environmental problems in many parts of the world, and hence development of effective, economic and environmental-friendly methods for water treatment to provide clean water and increase the freshwater supply is of great necessity. Due to the advantages of enhanced mass transfer and sufficiently exposed active sites over traditional parallel-plate and flow-by configurations, the electrochemical flow-through systems have emerged as a promising technology for tackling such global challenges, and are currently being actively explored for various water treatment processes including water desalination, water purification (e.g., removal of heavy metals, inorganic contaminants, or organic contaminants), water disinfection, resource recovery, and detection of contaminants. Over the past decades, there has been a fast increase of research regarding the applications of electrochemical flow-through systems in the water treatment processes and remarkable advances have been made. This review is intended to summarize such progress and highlight the key achievements. In-depth analysis of the functional mechanisms of the electrochemical flow-through systems in each of the applications was presented. This article should be of value in promoting electrochemical flow-through systems to develop into a competitive choice for tackling multiple water-related issues.