Effect of pulsed electric field and polarity reversal on peptide/amino acid migration, selectivity and fouling mitigation

Pulsed electric field drives chemical-free membrane stripping for high ammonia recovery from urine

Recovering ammonia from waste streams (e.g., urine) is highly desirable to reduce natural gas-based NH3 production and nitrogen discharge into the water environment. Electrochemical membrane stripping is an attractive alternative because it can drive NH4+ transformation to NH3 via cathodic OH- production; however, the conventional configurations suffer from relatively low ammonia recovery (<80 %) and significant acid/material usage for ammonia adsorption. To this end, we develop a novel stack system that simply uses an oxygen evolution reaction to in-situ produce acid from water, enabling chemical-free ammonia recovery from synthetic urine. In batch mode, the percentage removal and recovery increased respectively from 74.5 % to 97.9 % and 81.8 % to 92.7 % when the electrode pairs increased from 2 to 4 in the stack system. To address the gas-sparging issue that deteriorated ammonia recovery in continuous operation, pulsed electric field (PEF) mode was applied, resulting in ∼100 % recovery under optimized conditions. At an ammonia removal rate of 35.1 g-N m-2 h-1 and electrical energy consumption of 28.9 kWh kg-N-1, our chemical-free system in PEF mode has achieved significantly higher ammonia recovery (>90 %) from synthetic urine. The total cost to recover 1 kg of NH3-N from real human urine was $15.9 in the proposed system. Results of this study demonstrate that this novel approach holds great promise for high ammonia recovery from waste streams, opening a new pathway toward sustainable nitrogen management.

Fouling Mitigation by Optimizing Flow Rate and Pulsed Electric Field during Bipolar Membrane Electroacidification of Caseinate Solution

The efficiency of separation processes using ion exchange membranes (IEMs), especially in the food industry, is significantly limited by the fouling phenomenon, which is the process of the attachment and growth of certain species on the surface and inside the membrane. Pulsed electric field (PEF) mode, which consists in the application of constant current density pulses during a fixed time (Ton) alternated with pause lapses (Toff), has a positive antifouling impact. The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effect of three different relatively high flow rates of feed solution (corresponding to Reynolds numbers of 187, 374 and 560) and various pulse-pause ratios of PEF current regime on protein fouling kinetics during electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM) of a model caseinate solution. Four different pulse/pause regimes (with Ton/Toff ratios equal to 10 s/10 s, 10 s/20 s, 10 s/33 s and 10 s/50 s) during electrodialysis (ED) treatment were evaluated at a current density of 5 mA/cm². It was found that increasing the pause duration and caseinate solution flow rate had a positive impact on the minimization of protein fouling occurring on the cationic surface of the bipolar membrane (BPM) during the EDBM. Both a long pause and high flow rate contribute to a more effective decrease in the concentration of protons and caseinate anions at the BPM surface: a very good membrane performance was achieved with 50 s of pause duration of PEF and a flow rate corresponding to Re = 374. A further increase in PEF pause duration (above 50 s) or flow rate (above Re = 374) did not lead to a significant decrease in the amount of fouling.

Elucidating the pH influence on pulsed electric fields-induced self-assembly of chitosan-zein-poly(vinyl alcohol)-polyethylene glycol nanostructured composites

HYPOTHESIS

The high incompatibility of bio-based materials such as protein and polysaccharides require a series of modifications to develop stable microstructures effectively. By modifying the density and charge of surface residues, pulsed electric fields processing can improve inter/intramolecular interactions, compatibility, and microstructure of bio-based nanostructured composites.

EXPERIMENT

In this work, the impact of pulsed electric fields at a specific energy of 60-700 kJ/kg (electric field strength = 1.6 kV/cm) on self-assembly of zein-chitosan-poly(vinyl alcohol)-polyethylene glycol composite dispersion was investigated at pH 4.0, 5.7, and 6.8.

FINDINGS

Superior complex coacervated matrices were assembled at pH 4.0 and 5.7 before and after pulsed electric fields treatment at a specific energy of 390-410 kJ/kg. The compact and homogenous behaviour was attributable to pulsed electric fields-induced alteration of functional group interactions in a pH-dependent manner. Irrespective of the pH, very high electric field intensity caused excessive system perturbation leading to severe fragmentation and poor development of coacervates. The crucial insights from this study reveal that the self-assembly behaviour and integration of biopolymer-based systems possessing different local charges can be enhanced by optimising pulsed electric fields processing parameters and the properties of the colloidal systems such as the pH.

High frequency pulsed electrodialysis of acidic filtrate in kraft pulping

We introduce high frequency pulsed electrodialysis (hf-pED) to process the acidic filtrate of a Kraft pulp bleaching stage, tested in a pilot trial. Compared with conventional electrodialysis, hf-pED at 2,000 Hz allows a reduction in operational cost by 12%, estimated as 0.54 USD/m³ of acidic filtrate, while simultaneously preventing membrane fouling. The proposed sectorial stream treatment is demonstrated to significantly improve the quality of the final effluent, according to mass balances, making it more suitable for irrigation applications, considering requirements of irrigation norms. Thus, we estimate a reduction of 59, 21, and 20% in the concentration of chloride, sodium, and sulfate, respectively, in the final effluent of a conventional Kraft pulping mill. This strategy is presented as a sustainable and economic solution compared with the desalinization of the whole final effluent.

Electrodialytic Processes: Market Overview, Membrane Phenomena, Recent Developments and Sustainable Strategies

In the context of preserving and improving human health, electrodialytic processes are very promising perspectives. Indeed, they allow the treatment of water, preservation of food products, production of bioactive compounds, extraction of organic acids, and recovery of energy from natural and wastewaters without major environmental impact. Hence, the aim of the present review is to give a global portrait of the most recent developments in electrodialytic membrane phenomena and their uses in sustainable strategies. It has appeared that new knowledge on pulsed electric fields, electroconvective vortices, overlimiting conditions and reversal modes as well as recent demonstrations of their applications are currently boosting the interest for electrodialytic processes. However, the hurdles are still high when dealing with scale-ups and real-life conditions. Furthermore, looking at the recent research trends, potable water and wastewater treatment as well as the production of value-added bioactive products in a circular economy will probably be the main applications to be developed and improved. All these processes, taking into account their principles and specificities, can be used for specific eco-efficient applications. However, to prove the sustainability of such process strategies, more life cycle assessments will be necessary to convince people of the merits of coupling these technologies.

Influence of Surface Modification of MK-40 Membrane with Polyaniline on Scale Formation under Electrodialysis

A comprehensive study of the polyaniline influence on mineral scaling on the surface of the heterogeneous MK-40 sulfocationite membrane under electrodialysis has been conducted. Current-voltage curves and chronopotentiograms have been obtained and analyzed for the pristine MK-40 membrane and the MK-40 membrane which is surface-modified by polyaniline. The study of the electrochemical behavior of membranes has been accompanied by the simultaneous control of the pH of the solution outcoming from the desalination compartment. The mixture of Na₂CO₃, KCl, CaCl₂, and MgCl₂ is used as a model salt solution. Two limiting states are observed on the current-voltage curve of the surface-modified membrane. There is the first pseudo-limiting state in the range of small values of the potential drop. The second limiting current is comparable with that of the limiting current for the pristine membrane. It is shown that chronopotentiometry cannot be used as a self-sufficient method for membrane scaling identification on the surface-modified membrane at high currents. A mineral scale on the surfaces of the studied membranes has been found by scanning electron microscopy. The amount of precipitate is higher in the case of the surface-modified membrane compared with the pristine one.

Effect of Surface Inhomogeneity of Ion-Exchange Membranes on the Mass Transfer Efficiency in Pulsed Electric Field Modes

Despite the growing interest in pulsed electric field modes in membrane separation processes, there are currently not many works devoted to studying the effect of the surface properties and composition of ion-exchange membranes on their efficiency in these modes. In this paper, we have shown the effect of increasing mass transfer using different kinds of ion-exchange membranes (heterogeneous and homogeneous with smooth, undulated, and rough surfaces) during electrodialysis in the pulsed electric field modes at underlimiting and overlimiting currents. It was found that the maximum increment in the average current is achieved when the average potential corresponds to the right-hand edge of the limiting current plateau of the voltammetric curve, i.e., at the maximum resistance of the system in the DC mode. For the first time, the development of electroconvective vortices was visualized in pulsed electric field modes and it was experimentally shown that even at relatively low frequencies, a non-uniform concentration field is preserved at the time of a pause, which stimulates the rapid development of electroconvection when pulses are switched on again. In the case of relatively high pulse frequencies, the electroconvective vortices formed during a pulse lapse do not completely decay during a pause; they only slightly decrease in size.

Analysis of α-helix unfolding in the pine nut peptide Lys-Cys-His-Lys-Pro induced by pulsed electric field

BACKGROUND

A variety of analytical techniques were applied to explore the effects of pulsed electric field (PEF) on α-helix structural changes in the novel antioxidant peptide Lys-Cys-His-Lys-Pro (KCHKP, 611.76 Da).

RESULTS

The relative α-helix content of the KCHKP peptide was significantly altered from 100% to 89.91 ± 0.97% when the electric pulse frequency was 1800 Hz and the field intensity was 10 kV cm^-1 . Moreover, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-pycryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-azinobis diammonium salt (ABTS) radical-scavenging activities of PEF-treated KCHKP were increased from 56.31% ± 0.74% to 84.33% ± 1.23% and from 40.56% ± 0.78% to 51.33% ± 0.27%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

PEF treatment increased peptide linkage stretch vibration and altered hydrogen bonding of KCHKP. The stability of the α-helix structure was influenced by hydrogen bonds within the peptide linkage of KCHKP induced by PEF and was related to changes in antioxidant activity. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.