Current Pulsated Electrochemical Precipitation for Water Softening

Electrochemical precipitation has obtained great attentions for water softening in recent years. In order to avoid cathode deactivation, periodical scale detachment is essential. In general, the scale adhered to the cathode is detached by mechanical scraping. Although mechanical scraping is easy operated, elastic scraper must be installed between electrodes, leading to the low softening efficiency and high energy consumption. To overcome such a problem, a new current pulsated electrochemical precipitation process was proposed in this paper. Scale detachment was accomplished by increasing the current density significantly. Experimental results showed that the both high softening and detachment performance were achieved. The precipitation rate was as high as 40.47 g/h/m2. The energy consumption and the total hardness removal efficiency were 8.9–13.2 kWh/kg CaCO3 and 17.8–22.8%, respectively. Repetitive experimental results indicated the current pulsated electrochemical precipitation process could run steadily without any performance decay detected after repetitive operation.