Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102

Desalination of whey by electrodialysis and ion exchange resins:

analysis of both processes with regard to sustainability by
calculating their cumulative energy demand
Michael Greiter a,b , Senad Novalin a, , Martin Wendland b ,
Klaus-Dieter Kulbe a , Johann Fischer b
a Institute of Food Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Muthgasse 18, A-1190 Wien, Austria
b Institute of Agricultural, Environmental and Energy Engineering, University of Agricultural Sciences, Muthgasse 107, A-1190 Wien, Austria
Received 16 May 2002; received in revised form 8 December 2002; accepted 8 December 2002

Abstract
Desalination of whey is an important process in food technology and can be done either by electrodialysis (ED) or by ion
exchange (IE) resins. The aim of the present paper is an assessment of the cumulative energy demand of both processes for a
technical plant including production of the regeneration agents for the ion exchangers and treatment of waste water. A flow
of 45 m3 per day of nanofiltered whey, which is three times concentrated and partially desalted, is assumed as feed for the
plant. Data for the assessment was obtained from own laboratory experiments to be reported here, as well as from commercial
plants. Applying IE, the final whey product is desalted to a degree of 99%. The IE process yields 3.7 m3 of waste water with
36.3 kg ash and an organic charge of 26 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/m3 feed whey. The energy demand of IE amounts
to 0.15 kWh for pumping, 25.33 kWh for the production of the regenerants, and 9.75 kWh for the reduction of the organic
charge/m3 whey. With ED, the final whey product is desalted to only 90%. ED yields 1.25 m3 of waste water with 8.1 kg ash
and an organic charge of 8.4 kg COD/m3 whey. The energy demand of ED amounts to 4.2 kWh for pumping, 5.38 kWh for
the electric current through the ED cells, and 3.16 kWh for the reduction of the organic charge/m3 whey.
2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Ion exchange; Electrodialysis; Desalination; Sustainability; Energy demand

1. Introduction dialysis (ED). These processes differ in their mode

In technical processes, mineral salts and other ions
often have to be removed from solutions. Examples
are the demineralisation of sea water, boiler feed water
and aqueous solutions in the food and chemical
industry. Typical processes are reverse osmosis (RO),
nanofiltration (NF), ion exchange (IE), and electro-
Corresponding author. Tel.: +43-1-36006-6288;
fax: +43-1-36006-6251.
E-mail address: nov@edv2.boku.ac.at (S. Novalin).
and possibilities of operation.
If competing technical processes are available for
a given task in industry, the selection of a certain
process is in essence done on the basis of current
economic reasons, whilst sustainability still plays a
minor role for many industries. Sustainability implies,
in brief, small cumulative energy demands and ma-
terial cycles which are closed in themselves as far as
possible. We expect, however, that the requirements
for the sustainability of processes will increase greatly
and will have a strong impact on production costs in

0376-7388/02/$ see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 7 6 - 7 3 8 8 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 7 8 - 2
92 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102

the future. Hence, investigations on the sustainability nanofiltered, three times concentrated whey per day,
of competing processes have to be performed. was done.
The processes to be investigated here with respect For the theory of IE and IE membranes, the reader
to their sustainability come from the food industry and is referred to Helfferich [6] and Dorfner [7]. The fun-
concern the desalination of whey. In the EU, several damentals of ED are discussed, e.g. by Strathmann
million tonnes of whey originate from cheese produc- [8] and Rautenbach [9]. Applications of IE, ED and
tion per year. Desalination is necessary for further use NF in the case of demineralisation of whey are found
of whey as a raw material for other valuable products elsewhere [25,10,11].
such as baby food or for the recovery of proteins.
Processes which can be used for the desalination of
whey are ion exchange (IE) or electrodialysis (ED). 2. Materials and methods
These processes have already been investigated for
more than 20 years (e.g. [15]), mainly with regard 2.1. Whey
to the economic framework of that time. From the
point of view of sustainability, both processes require, Nanofiltered, three times concentrated sweet whey
however, quite large cumulative energy demands and with a total solid (TS) content of 1820% (here and
produce large amounts of waste water, which have in following: % denotes wt.%), coming from a dairy,
not yet been fully assessed. was used. During the nanofiltration the ash content
The cumulative energy demand comprises the is reduced by 30% and more [12]. In particular, the
energy demand of the whole process chain. Thus, for monovalent ions (Cl , K+ and Na+ ) are removed
its determination, one also needs to take into account, to approximately 70%. Table 1 shows the difference
besides the energy consumption of the ED and IE between nanofiltered three times concentrated whey
processes themselves, the energy consumption of the and whey which was three times concentrated by
production of regenerants in the case of IE and of the evaporation. The subsequent desalination by ED or
waste-water treatment of both processes. Therefore, it IE in our laboratory experiments was performed in
is necessary to have a reliable data base of the process batch runs using 1.5 l of whey per run.
parameters, the direct process energy, the regener-
ant consumption and the waste-water amounts and 2.2. Electrodialysis (ED)
contents for both processes. Data has been collected
from literature and industrial plants but did not prove ED is an electrochemical separation process in
sufficient, especially concerning the waste-water pro- which ion permeable membranes are used to remove
duction and contents. ions from solution [68]. Membrane cells are formed,
Hence, experiments were carried out with an IE with each cell bounded by a cationic permeable mem-
and an ED laboratory scale unit in order to validate
and extend existing sources. Data concerning the level
Table 1
of desalination, the amount of regenerants, the energy
Content of ions in a three times concentrated sweet whey (TS
needed and the amount and contents of the waste 1820%) after evaporation (Chaveron [13]) and after nanofiltration
water was collected. In the case of IE, all these data (own values)
could be compared with data from an industrial plant.
Ion Concentration (mg/l)
In the case of ED, a rough comparison to an industrial
plant, which demineralises to a level of 50%, was Vaporised whey NF whey
done. A critical comparison of our experimental data, Na+ 1120 725
literature data and the data of the industrial plants K+ 4490 2590
yields a reliable and sufficiently complete and con- Ca2+ 900 895
Mg2+ 220 225
sistent data set for an ED and an IE process which is
Cl 3400 835
presented here and can be used in an estimation of the PO4 3500 2935
cumulative energy demand. Finally, a scale-up of this
Sum 13630 8200
data to a plant with the capacity to desalinate 45 m3
 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102
brane on one side and an anionic permeable mem-
brane on the other. The cells of the diluate (whey) and
concentrate (brine) solution are arranged alternately.
Under the influence of an electric field provided by
dc voltage, cations of the whey migrate towards and
through the cation exchange membranes and into the
concentrate solution. Similarly, the anions of the whey
migrate towards and through the anion exchange
membranes and into the concentrate solution. As a
result, the concentration of cations and anions in the
whey falls while their concentration in the concen-
trate solutions rises. To obtain the desalination level
of 90%, it is necessary to recycle the whey through
the stack a number of times.
Fig. 1 shows the ED laboratory unit schematically
and the arrangement of the different measuring in-
struments. The stack used during the experiments has
eight cell pairs and two additional cation exchange
Fig. 1. Set-up of the laboratory scale ED unit.
93
membranes next to the anode. Every membrane has
a total surface of 0.0078 m2 (0.06 m 0.13 m) and
an effective membrane surface of 0.0037 m2 . Hence,
the total effective membrane surface is 0.0296 m2
for each membrane type. The ion exchange mem-
branes Neosepta CMX and AMX are produced by
the Tokuyama Corporation (Tokyo, Japan). The dis-
tance between the membranes is 0.5 103 m. The
flow velocities were about 0.08 m/s. Delbeke [14] and
Hiraoka et al. [15] recommended a flow velocity of
about 0.1 m/s for whey concentrated by evaporation.
The temperature of the solutions was between 24
and 28 C. By diluting the concentrate solution, the
value of conductivity of approximately 10 mS/cm is
maintained constant during the whole process. This
conductivity approximately corresponds to the data
of a commercial plant.
First, the limiting current density (LCD) was
determined by the method of Cowan and Brown [16],
yielding a value of 17 mA/cm2 . The LCD [8] is the cur-
rent density at which the ion concentration at the sur-
faces of the cation and/or anion exchange membranes
in the cells with the depleted solution will become
zero. The LCD is proportional to the ion concentration
in the diluate and the mass transfer coefficient, which
is determined mainly by the cell geometry and the feed
solution flow velocity. If in ED the LCD is exceeded,
the process efficiency will be drastically diminished
because of the increasing electrical resistance of the
solution and because of water splitting, which leads
to both pH changes and additional operational prob-
lems. To avoid these problems, the current density
was adjusted by the voltage to 13.5 mA/cm2 at the
beginning of a batch run, which corresponds to about
80% of the LCD and yields a total current of 0.5 A.
Thereafter, the voltage was kept constant. The level
of desalination can be estimated by the decrease in
conductivity.
During the run, the following parameters were reg-
istered every 10 min: the current (I), the inner voltage
(Ui ), the outer voltage (Uo ), the temperature (T), the
conductivity (C) and pH-value (pH) of the diluate
and concentrate solution. The values of the flux of
all three solutions and the conductivity and pH-value
of the electrode rinse solution were measured at
the beginning and at the end of the run. The pres-
sure is more or less constant with 0.05 MPa excess
pressure.
94 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102

As is common in industrial practice, a cleaning

procedure with the following steps was done after four
runs of 5 h each:
1. water rinsing (3 100 ml, 10 min each);
2. acid washing (HNO3 0.5% solution; 200 ml,
30 min);
3. water rinsing (3 100 ml, 10 min each);
4. alkaline washing (NaOH 0.5% solution; 200 ml,
30 min);
5. water rinsing (1 200 ml and 3 100 ml, 10 min
each).
The procedure took a total of 2 h and 40 min. The
waste water of the electrodialysis process consists of
the total volume of the cleaning solutions (1500 ml),
plus the volume of the concentrate solutions of the
four corresponding runs. Besides the volume of the
waste water, its COD-value and its salt content were
also analysed.

2.3. Ion exchange (IE)

IE is a fixed-bed separation technology using ion

exchange resins [6,7]. These resins have a large num-
ber of firmly attached bonds on their surfaces, which
can reversibly absorb one type of ions. The physical
form of the resins is a small sphere with a diameter
between 0.4 and 0.8 mm. A cation exchange resin
captures positively charged ions and an anion ex-
change resin negatively charged ions. In fresh resin,
the cations attached to the cationic resin are H+ , those
attached to the anionic resin OH . Passing raw whey
over a bed of cation exchange resin would result in
exchange of the cations in the whey against H+ ions.
Subsequent passage of this whey through the anion
exchange resin would absorb anions, displacing the
OH ions. As a result, desalted whey exits the anion
exchange resin column.
The capacity of exchangeable ions is limited. The
amount of whey that can be desalted by the given
quantities of resins can be calculated. The same ap-
plies to the required amount of water and regenerants
(acid in the case of cation exchange resin, alkali in
the case of anion exchange resin). These solutions
are sufficiently concentrated to remove the absorbed
cations and anions and replace them by H+ and
OH ions, regenerating the resins to their previous
state.
Fig. 2. Set-up of the laboratory scale IE unit.
The laboratory scale IE unit shown in Fig. 2 has
two columns. One column is filled with the strong acid
cation exchange resin Lewatit S1428 and the other
with the weak alkaline anion exchange resin S3428,
both available from Bayer AG (Leverkusen/Germany).
The columns from Kronlab (Sinsheim/Germany) have
a height of 1 m and an inner diameter of 0.025 m. The
regenerants are HCl (5% solution) and NaOH (4%
solution).
In accordance to data from a commercial ion ex-
change plant, a capacity of 3.75 l whey/l cation
exchange resin and a capacity of 4.15 l whey/l anion
exchange resin can be expected. For regeneration,
65 g HCl (pure)/l cation exchange resin and 70 g
NaOH (pure)/l anion exchange resin can be expected.
This data was used to estimate the amounts of whey
 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102
treated in and regenerants necessary for the labora-
tory scale IE unit. The data is in good agreement with
Delaneys data [2]. The bed volume of the resins in
both columns of the laboratory scale unit was 0.4 l.
The following desalination and regeneration proce-
dure was optimised in this work regarding the min-
imisation of the waste-water amount and contents.
The procedure is the same for both columns, but the
amount of the regenerants and washing water differs.
1. The whey is desalted at a flow rate of 3 m/h.
2. The column is rinsed by water obtained as reversed
osmosis (RO) permeate. Its volume is 1 bed vol-
ume, the flow rate 3 m/h. After half of the volume
has passed the column, the procedure is stopped.
3. Up-flow rinsing with RO permeate, its volume is
1.5 bed volumes and the flow rate 15 m/h.
4. Up-flow regeneration: cation exchange column
1.275 l HCl (5%)/l resin, anion exchange column
1.705 l NaOH (4%)/l resin; flow rate: 5 m/h.
5. Up-flow rinsing with RO permeate: cation exch-
ange column with 2.5 bed volumes, anion exchange
column with 4 bed volumes; flow rate: 5 m/h.
The average flow rate is 4.2 m/h and in good
agreement with the value of the commercial plant,
which is approximately 4 m/h. The rinsing water
(ref. point 2) is added to the desalted whey. Apart
from the diluted whey, all other solutions passing the
Table 2
Apparatus and materials of the ion and COD analysis
Apparatus/materials
Ion chromatograph
Cation column
Anion column
Cation suppressor
Anion suppressor
Conductivity detector
Cation elution solution
Anion elution solution
Standard solutions (Na, K, Ca, Mg,
NH4 , Cl, PO4 , SO4 )
COD analyzer
Test kit
Test kit
Test kit
Thermoreactor
95
columns are collected and represent the waste water.
The COD-value, the salt content and volume of the
waste water were analysed. It is possible to control
the procedure by measuring the conductivity and the
pH-value of the solutions after passing the column.
Fig. 2 also shows the arrangement of the measuring
instruments.
2.4. Analysis of the salt content
In the beginning and at the end of a run, samples
were taken from the original NF whey and the de-
salted whey in the case of IE and from the diluate and
concentrate solution in the case of ED. The collected
samples were deep-frozen (30 C) and analysed
later. To remove proteins, the samples were boiled
for 5 min and centrifuged (12 000 rpm) before injec-
tion. An ion chromatograph Dionex DX-120 (Dionex,
USA) was used for the analysis, following a standard
procedure. Table 2 shows the apparatus and materi-
als. The analysis is evaluated by the Peaknet Control
software (Dionex, USA).
2.5. Analysis of the COD-value
The collected waste-water samples were deep-
frozen (30 C) and analysed later. In the case of ED,
there are two types of waste water: the concentrate
Type/working temperature/flow rate Company
Dionex DX-120 Dionex (USA)
Dionex IonPac CS-12A; 25 C Dionex (USA)
Dionex IonPac AS-14; 25 C Dionex (USA)
Dionex Suppressor CSRS Dionex (USA)
Dionex Suppressor ASRS Dionex (USA)
Dionex Detection Stabiliser DS4-1 Dionex (USA)
Methanesulfonic acid (puriss.); 1.2 ml/min Fluka (Germany)
Sodium hydrogen carbonate (p.a.)/sodium Merck (Germany)
carbonate anhydrous (p.a.); 1.2 ml/min
Certipur (1000 mg/l) Merck (Germany)
Spectroquant Nova 60 Merck (Germany)
COD cell test 14540 (10150 mg/l) Merck (Germany)
COD cell test 14541 (1001500 mg/l) Merck (Germany)
COD cell test 14691 (3003500 mg/l) Merck (Germany)
Thermoreactor TR 200; 148 C Merck (Germany)
96 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102
solution and the waste water of the cleaning proce-
dure. Each of these was analysed separately. In the
case of IE, there are three solutions which were anal-
ysed: the waste water after the cation desalination step,
the waste water after the anion desalination step, and
the final waste water after mixing both. Table 2 lists
the apparatus and the test kits, which were used in
the COD analysis. The evaluation of the test kits was
done photometrically with the Spectroquant Nova 60
(Merck, Germany).
3. Experimental results
3.1. Electrodialysis
Fig. 3 shows the estimation of the LCD by the
method of Cowan and Brown [16] from our experi-
mental results. In order to maintain constant process
parameters, particularly equal concentrations, only
one tank was used for both diluate and concentrate
solutions. On the end-membranes (cationic exchange
membranes), two platinum wires were placed to mea-
sure the potential (Ui in Fig. 1) across the membranes
excluding the electrodes. The voltage was increased by
defined steps and the corresponding current (I) noted.
The electrical membrane resistance (Rm ) was calcu-
lated by the relation Rm = Ui /I and is plotted against
the reciprocal value of the current. The data can be
represented by two straight lines, which intersect at
1.6 A1 . The intersection point, which is marked by
Fig. 3. Determination of the LCD with the method of Cowan and Brown.
an arrow, represents the LCD. This value of 0.626 A
and the effective membrane surface (0.0037 m2 ) yield
the LCD of approximately 17 mA/cm2 . Eighty per-
cent of this value are the 13.5 mA/cm2 which were
adjusted by the voltage at the beginning of the runs.
Kessler [17] recommended that the value of the cur-
rent density should be between 10 and 15 mA/cm2 .
In contrast to IE, ED cannot desalt up to 99%. In
this work, a 90% desalination degree was obtained.
The runs lasted between 4 and 4.5 h each. To con-
trol the level of desalination, the conductivity of the
diluate solution was measured online. Fig. 4 shows
the correlation between the decrease in conductivity
and the decrease of the concentration of ions (molar
equivalent) of a trial during which samples were taken
after 0, 60, 120, 180 and 270 min.
The waste water of ED is composed of the waste wa-
ter of the cleaning procedure and the concentrate solu-
tion, which has a larger volume, a higher COD-value
and a higher salt content. Table 3 gives an overview of
the waste-water composition. It has to be mentioned,
that the cleaning procedure is conducted after four runs
and thus the amount of waste water from cleaning had
to be divided among the runs proportionately.
The energy demand of ED is composed of the en-
ergy demand of the separation of ions and the energy
demand of the pumps, which was not analysed for the
laboratory scale unit because of the unrealistic ratio
between the size of the stack and that of the pump
and pipe system. Concerning the separation of ions,
energy is used for the transport of ions through the
 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102 97

Fig. 4. Decrease of conductivity and corresponding decrease of the molar equivalent in percent referred to the values of the original NF whey.

solutions and the membranes and for the overcoming
of the resistance of the electrodes. The resistance of
the electrodes was not considered in this case, because
its influence is too high with regard to the size of
the stack: the laboratory stack only has 8 cell pairs
whereas a commercial stack consists of as many as 200
and more cell pairs. The voltage drop for a cell pair
was determined from the inner voltage and amounted
to 0.85 V, the resistance per cell pair increases during
a run and the measurements gave an average value
of 3.8 . Including the resistance of the two cation
exchange membranes next to the anode, the energy
demand for desalting 1.5 l whey is 26.5 kJ.
To obtain the current efficiency by the formula
Ith
= ,
Ipr
the theoretical current (Ith ) and the practical current
(Ipr ) have to be calculated. The theoretical current
was determined from the cation analysis. A total
of 0.208 molar equivalent charges correspond to the
average value of cations, removed from the whey and
re-found in the concentrate solution. The density of
charge flux J = 4.5 104 mol/m2 s results there-
from. The theoretical current is calculated with the
formula
Ith = FJAeff , (2)
whereby F is the Faraday constant [96 485.3 As mol1 ]
and Aeff the effective membrane surface [0.0037 m2 ].
The practical current is obtained by the measured
charges (3518 As), divided by the time. According to
(1)
formula (1) = 0.7 results.

Table 3
Composition of waste water of ED and IE laboratory scale unit (LU) and IE commercial plant (CP)a
Process Waste water Volume (ml) COD (g) Ash (g) pH

Electrodialysis (LU) Cleaning procedure 250 0.5 0.4

Concentrate solution 1000 6.5 7.7
Whole waste water 1250 7 8.1 6
Ion exchange (LU) Cation desalination 1600 5
Anion desalination 2100 21
Whole waste water 3700 26 36.3 56
Ion exchange (CP) Whole waste water 3400 20
a The values are referred to 1 l original NF whey.
98 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102

Fig. 5. The plots represent the performance of the IE cation exchange resin. The pH-value and the conductivity are plotted as a function of
the throughput volumes measured in units of bed volumes. Plot A: down-flow desalination of whey. Plot B: up-flow rinsing and regeneration.

3.2. Ion exchange
The cleaning and regeneration procedure was opti-
mised in this work, as described in Section 2.3. The
parameters, which are characteristic for the runs, are
the pH-value and the conductivity of the solution leav-
ing the column. Fig. 5 shows the down-flow desalting
step in Plot A for the cation exchange and the up-flow
rinsing and regeneration step in Plot B. The pH-value
and the conductivity are plotted against the volume of
the solutions, which have passed the column and are
measured in bed volumes.
In Plot A, the breakthrough of whey and starting
point of rinsing are marked with an arrow. The sud-
den decrease of pH-value and the sudden increase in
conductivity mark the breakthrough and the moment
of initiation of desalted whey collection. Finally, the
whey displaced by the rinsing solution in the column
is diluted with half of the bed volume of rinsing so-
lution. As a result, the total solids content decreases
from 1819% to about 15% after processing through
both columns.
In Plot B, the first rinsing with a flow rate of 15 m/h
should rinse macro molecules on top of the column.
According to Herv [18], rinsing and regeneration are
made up-flow, above all to economise regenerants use.
Herv points out that in the down-flow system strong
acid cation exchange resins need 300% molar equiva-
lent HCl for regeneration relative to capacity, whereas
weak alkaline anion exchange resins need just 150%
 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102
molar equivalent NaOH. He further states that 40% of
regenerants can be economised performing an up-flow
regeneration. In this work, the data of regenerants from
a commercial plant were used. The consumption of re-
generants corresponds to 200220% of the capacity of
each resin. As mentioned above, the anion exchange
resin would not need as much regenerant as the cation
exchange resin. Legal regulations, however, demand a
final pH-value of the waste water to be between 6.5
and 9. Mixing the waste water of both regeneration
steps therefore makes almost equal amounts of re-
generants necessary to have a neutralising effect. The
last rinsing is performed to displace the ions, which
were exchanged by the regenerants. In Plot B, the
large peak in the conductivity shows this effect. This
peak is larger (wider) in the anion exchange, where
one needs more solution to obtain the same rinsing
effect.
The composition of the waste water from IE is listed
in Table 3. The differences between the COD-value
and the waste-water volume of the laboratory scale
unit and commercial plant can be seen. It is also
pointed out that besides 8.8 g ash, which represents
the exchanged ions of 1 l whey, additional 27.5 g NaCl
get into the waste water because of the applied regen-
erants. Table 3 also shows the difference between the
volume and COD-value of the waste water from cation
and anion desalination.
Table 4
Overview of data for an ED and IE commercial plant, which have the capacity to desalinate 45 m3 of NF whey per daya
Process Parameter
Electrodialysis Membrane surface
Separation of ions
Pumps
Reduction of COD
Waste water
Ash
Ion exchange Cation exchange resin
Anion exchange resin
HCl (pure)
NaOH (pure)
Pump
Reduction of COD
Waste water
Ash
a This data is the result of a scale-up using experimental and industrial data.
b The value refers to the combined energy demand for the production of HCl and NaOH.
99
4. Scale-up and comparison
The experimental results were used for a scale-up to
commercial plants with a capacity to desalinate 45 m3
nanofiltered, three times concentrated whey per day.
An overview of the data, which are calculated in the
next two chapters, is given in Table 4.
4.1. Electrodialysis
The working day of a typical commercial ED plant
is composed of four runs (5 h each) and one cleaning
procedure (4 h). The 45 m3 volume of whey is divided
into 4 11.25 m3 , which corresponds to 2.25 m3 /h.
The laboratory scale unit desalted 1.5 l of whey to
90% with 0.0296 m2 membrane surface in 260 min,
corresponding to 0.0117 m3 /m2 h. This leads to a
required membrane surface of 192.4 m2 . The total
membrane surface is 212 m2 (192.4 m2 + 10% se-
curity). The membranes have an effective surface of
0.4 m2 , so 530 cation and 530 anion exchange mem-
branes have to be used. As a result, there are 530 cell
pairs, which are split into two stacks.
One stack has 265 cell pairs and the necessary volt-
age per cell pair is 0.85 V (see Table 2) and 225.25 V
per stack. The average current density of the laboratory
runs was 6.095 mA/cm2 or 60.95 A/m2 . The current
of the commercial plant is then 24.38 A related
Surface/mass/volume Energy demand (kWh)
212 m2
242
189
142
56 m3
365 kg
4 m3
3.6 m3
780 kg 1140b
840 kg 1140b
6.6
439
167 m3
1634 kg
100 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102
to 0.4 m2 effective membrane surface. This corre-
sponds to an electric power of 5491.6 W. According to
industrial experience, the resistance of the electrodes
is taken into account adding 10% to the calculated
energy demand, so the power increases to 6040.8 W
per stack or 12 081.6 W for both stacks. Because
the desalination runs 20 h per day, the total energy
demand is 241.6 kWh.
The power of the pumps is calculated by:
P = 100 p V P 1 (kW) (3)
whereby p is the pressure drop [bar], V the volume
flow (m3 /s), and p the pump efficiency assumed at
0.7. In agreement with realistic assumptions, the pres-
sure drop is supposed to be 3 bar. The volume flow of
diluate and concentrate solutions is 0.016 103 m3 /s
per cell (corresponding to 0.08 m/s flow velocity
and a cross-section of 2 104 m2 ). The concen-
trate and the diluate solution pump have to transport
8.48 103 m3 /s each (for two stacks with 256 cells).
Inserting the values in the formula (3), the power of
each pump is 3.634 kW and the energy demand of a
whole day is 87.2 kWh. A volume flow of electrode
rinse solution of 1.38 103 m3 /s is assumed, so the
power of the pump is 0.595 kW and the energy de-
mand for 24 h is 14.3 kWh. As a result, total energy
demand for all three pumps is 188.7 kWh.
The COD-value of the laboratory scale ED unit in
Table 3 corresponds to a process without pole reversal.
But in industry, pole reversal is the usual method and
works fully automated. The rinsing in between the
reversals is very effective, so a low diluting and a high
cleaning effect can be assumed. To get realistic values,
20% were added to the COD-value of the laboratory
scale ED unit. This results in 8.4 g COD/l whey or
378 kg COD/45 m3 whey. A conventional reduction of
1 kg COD has an energy demand between 0.25 and
0.5 kWh [19]. A total of 0.375 kWh for 1 kg COD were
assumed, which results in a total energy demand for
reduction of 378 kg COD of 142 kWh.
The volume of ED waste water is 1.25 l/l whey or
56 m3 /45 m3 whey.
4.2. Ion exchange
The working day of a typical commercial IE plant
is composed of three runs, which last 7 h each (1.5 h
desalination and 5.5 h regeneration [20]). A total of
15 m3 whey has to be desalted per run. The necessary
amount of resins is calculated with the data from a
commercial ion exchange plant and results in 4 m3
cation exchange resin and 3.6 m3 anion exchange
resin.
A total of 260 kg pure HCl and 252 kg pure NaOH
are needed for regeneration alone. This would re-
sult in a surplus of acid in the waste water. At the
end of regeneration, the waste water should have
a pH-value between 6.5 and 9. Therefore, almost
equal molar amounts of regenerants have to be used
to effect conforming neutralisation. So, 780 kg pure
HCl or 1765 l HCl (37%) and 840 kg pure NaOH or
1100 l NaOH (50%) are needed for regeneration for
three runs. Hartz and Hoppe [21] report, that an elec-
trolysis process with membrane technology, which
is the state-of-the-art technology by Krupp Uhde
(Germany), has an energy demand of 2000 kWh for
the production of 1 tonne NaOH. This value includes
the co-production of H2 and Cl2 . The synthesis of
HCl (with 1 mol H2 and 1 mol Cl2 ) has an enthalpy of
reaction of 184 kJ. This energy, which theoretically
could be recovered, is taken into account. This yields
an upper limit for the energy demand of approxi-
mately 1140 kWh for the production of regenerants
necessary for 1 day.
The volume flow during the desalination of 1.5 h
is composed of the 15 m3 whey and the 2 m3 rins-
ing water, which is used to displace the whey in the
columns. During the regeneration of 5.5 h, the volume
flow is calculated with 15 m3 whey multiplied with
3.7, which is the ratio of waste water to whey. The
total volume flow is 2.2 103 m3 /s. In agreement
with industrial experience, a pressure drop of 1 bar is
supposed. Using formula (3), the power is 0.31 kW
and the energy demand for 21 h is 6.6 kWh.
The COD-value of 26 g/l whey (Table 3) yields to
1170 kg COD/45 m3 . The energy demand for reduc-
tion of this COD amount is 439 kWh. The volume
of IE waste water is 3.7 l/l whey and 166.5 m3 /45 m3
whey.
5. Discussion
If the separation process is considered, ED as
an electrochemical process utilises substantially
more energy than IE. With regard to sustainability,
 M. Greiter et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 210 (2002) 91102
a calculation of the cumulative energy demand is
recommended. Therefore, the energy analysis was
extended to include the production of the regener-
ants and the waste-water treatment. The production
of regenerants is achieved by electrolysis. This pro-
cess spends 2000 kWh of energy for the production
of 1 ton NaOH. In the context of sustainability, one
problem is how to evaluate the possibilities of using
process by-products, for example, in this case hydro-
gen and chlorine. Chlorine is a raw material in the
plastics industry, NaOH being a cheap by-product of
chlorine production. HCl is produced using chlorine
and the remaining hydrogen has a high energy poten-
tial. In this work the enthalpy of reaction of the HCl
synthesis with hydrogen and chlorine is taken into
consideration, because the calculation of the energy
demand is thus done directly with the products of the
electrolysis and gives an upper limit for the energy
demand if regenerants were taken into account.
In the above, a key area of study is also the waste
water and its composition. Obviously IE not only pro-
duces three times more waste water and COD than
ED does, but also 44.5 times more salt (expressed in
mass). This is of particular interest, as the European
Union is going to introduce taxes for the waste water
related to the real costs of waste-water treatment by
2010. The energy demand for the reduction of COD
represents only one part of the total energy demand
for waste-water treatment.
Taking into account [15], the following conclusion
can be made regarding sustainability: NF should be
used as a pre-treatment step, as whey is concentrated
and partly demineralised simultaneously. For further
desalination, ED is to be preferred. First, the cumu-
lative energy demand of ED is significantly lower.
Second, both the effluent volume and the total salt
discharge are lower as well.
On the other hand, the ammonium bicarbonate pro-
cess or SMR process [22,23] is an example that IE
process could be improved by recycling regenerants.
Furthermore, a desalination of 99% is easily obtained
with IE.
Additional aspects, such as transportation of regen-
erants, energy demand for the production of resins,
membranes etc. should strictly also be analysed.
Obviously only first steps were done in the com-
parison of these technologies with regard to their
sustainability.
101
Acknowledgements
The present work was supported by Forschungss-
timulationsprogramm des Rektors, Universitt fr
Bodenkultur (University of Agricultural Sciences),
Vienna, Austria.
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