This research focused on the fabrication and testing of point-of-use Pd-based (Pd-Cu and Pd-In) catalytic reactive electrochemical membranes (REMs) for electrocatalytic nitratereduction. Results showed that the optimal performance was achieved using a Pd−Cu/REM and an upstream counter electrode. Under these experimental conditions, nitrate was reducedfrom an initial concentration of 1.0 mM to below the EPAs regulatory MCL (700 μM) in single-pass, flow-through mode operation, with a hydraulic residence time of ∼2 s. The product selectivity was &lt; 2% towards nitrite and ammonia. Additional experiments showed that nitrate reduction was not affected by dissolved oxygen, dissolved carbon, and carbonate species and was only slightly affected by scaling of divalent cations (i.e., Ca2+and Mg2+) present in a surface water sample. Energy consumption was between 1.1 and 1.3 kWh mol-1for 1 mM nitrate in a surface water sample and decreased to 0.19 mol-1 for 10 mM NaNO3and 0.12 kWh mol-1 for 100 mM NaNO3solutions. Electrocatalytic reduction was significantly higher than catalytic reduction, where electrocatalytic reduction kinetics were an order of magnitude higher. Overall, the high conversion of nitrate, low energy consumption, and low nitriteand NH3formation demonstrates the extreme promise of using Pd−Cu/REMs for distributed water treatment.

Electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate using Pd-based reactive electrochemical membranes

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.