There is a growing global movement towards the interconnection of water, energy, and sustainability. The concept of the Water-Energy Nexus seeks to ensure the provision of sustainable water and energy resources, leading to socio-economic advantages and environmental preservation. Specifically focusing on desalination, the existing methods employed are considered unsustainable due to their reliance on fossil fuels and the discharge of highly saline brine. The Physicochemical Hydrodynamics Lab is dedicated to achieving sustainable desalination through electrochemical processes, particularly electrodialysis (ED). Unlike other desalination methods, ED relies solely on electricity and ion exchange membranes, which can be of varying sizes. Leveraging such scalability and simplicity of ED, our research focuses on advancing next-generation ED processes that prioritize sustainability by minimizing energy consumption and reducing brine discharge. This is accomplished through two key approaches:

     - Enhancing ion transport by strengthening hydrodynamic instabilities on the membranes,

     - Facilitating brine valorization by coupling electrochemical redox reactions in brine streams.

Taking our efforts a step further, we aim to eliminate the need for brine disposal by incorporating a biomimetic function inspired by osmoregulation into the desalination process.

Related Projects:

■ 2021-2023 탄소중립적농축수무생성전기화학반응기반수전해용해수담수화개발, 전략형국제공동연수사업, NRF

■ 2022-2023 가습수탈이온화기술최적화, LG전자

■ 2019-2021 농축수가생성되지않는전기화학반응기반담수화장치, 삼성미래기술육성사업

■ 2018-2021 분리막공정내이온/유동/막오염최적화를위한실시간내부모니터링기술개발, 기후변화대응기술개발사업, NRF