Entropy production in an electro-membrane process at underlimiting currents—influence of temperature

Abstract

The entropy production in the polarization phenomena occurring in the underlimiting regime, when an electric current circulates through a single cation-exchange membrane system, has been investigated in the 3–40 °C temperature range. From the analysis of the current–voltage curves and considering the electro-membrane system as a unidimensional heterogeneous system, the total entropy generation in the system has been estimated from the contribution of each part of the system. Classical polarization theory and the irreversible thermodynamics approach have been used to determine the total electric potential drop and the entropy generation, respectively, associated with the different transport mechanisms in each part of the system. The results show that part of the electric power input is dissipated as heat due to both electric migration and diffusion ion transports, while another part is converted into chemical energy stored in the saline concentration gradient. Considering the electro-membrane process as an energy conversion process, an efficiency has been defined as the ratio between stored power and electric power input. This efficiency increases as both applied electric current and temperature increase.