Simultaneous Desalination and Metal Recovery Enabled by Electrochemical Ion Pumping

Many industries, such as semiconductor manufacturing, mining, and electroplating, produce wastewater that contains salt and heavy metals. It is difficult and expensive to treat this type of wastewater. This project will develop a new technology called Electrochemical Ion Pumping (EIP) to remove salt and recover valuable metals like copper and nickel in a single step. EIP uses electrical control to separate salts from metals. This method is energy-efficient, scalable, and has low waste generation. It can help reduce industrial pollution, recover useful materials, and support a circular economy. The project will develop hands-on educational kits to teach high school and college students about electrochemical separation to prepare the next generation of STEM workforce. Many industries that are important to the U.S. economy and supply chains produce wastewater that contains salt and heavy metals. Treating these wastewaters involves complex, multi-step processes that use large amounts of chemicals. The project will establish a new electrochemical platform based on EIP that combines high-frequency circuit switching with narrow-window electrode potential control to enable pseudo-continuous desalination and electrowinning of heavy metals. The research will define mechanistic principles for stabilizing electrode potentials through ultrashort cycling at specific electrode saturation levels and apply these principles to selectively recover redox-active metals from saline wastewater. A multi-electrode EIP stack will be developed and tested for scalability and long-term performance. By integrating desalination and redox-selective metal recovery in a single process, this project will advance electrochemical separation science and provide a sustainable approach based on process intensification for treating complex industrial wastewater. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.