Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156

Separation of different ions from wastewater at various

operating conditions using electrodialysis
Mohtada Sadrzadeh, Amir Razmi, Toraj Mohammadi ∗
Research Laboratory for Separation Processes, Department of Chemical Engineering,
Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran, Iran
Received 8 May 2006; received in revised form 23 August 2006; accepted 23 August 2006

Abstract
In this paper, effect of influential factors on separation of monovalent (Na+ ), divalent (Cu2+ , Zn2+ , Pb2+ ) and trivalent (Cr3+ ) ions from wastewater
was investigated. Two types of different membranes (AMV and CMV made by Asahi Glass and AR204SXR412 and CR67MK111 made by Ionics)
with different ion exchange capacities (IEC) were used. Taguchi experimental design was used to plan a minimum number of experiments. A L9
orthogonal array (OA, four factors in three levels) was employed to evaluate effect of concentration (100, 500, and 1000 ppm), temperature (25,
40, and 60 ◦ C), flow rate (0.07, 0.7, and 1.2 mL/s) and voltage (10, 20, and 30 V) on separation percent (SP) of the individual ions in the solution.
A L16 OA (five factors in four levels) was applied to enquire the effect of ion valence in a mixture of ions on the response (SP). Statistical analysis,
ANOVA, was also employed to determine the relationship between experimental conditions and yield levels. The results show that increasing
concentration, voltage and temperature improves cell performance; however, SP decreases with increasing flow rate. At concentrations of more
than 500 ppm, dependency of SP on concentration diminishes. The optimum levels of influential factors, determined for all ions are: concentration
1000 ppm, temperature 60 ◦ C, flow rate 0.07 mL/s and voltage 30 V. According to the results, using a membrane pair with higher IEC improves SP.
It was found that performance of an electrodialysis (ED) cell is almost independent on the type of ions and only depends on the operating conditions
and the cell structure. This result was confirmed by the experiments conducted on a mixture of ions. It was also found that SP of monovalent ions
is larger than divalent and trivalent ions (SCr < SCu , SZn , SPb < SNa ). For ions of similar valence, SP was found to be restricted by molecular weight
and electrochemical activation energy of the ions (SPb < SCu < SZn ).
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Electrodialysis; Wastewater treatment; Taguchi method; Experimental design; ANOVA; Monovalent; Divalent and trivalent ions

1. Introduction body’s tissues. Relatively small releases of PBT chemicals can

Desalination is a process that removes dissolved minerals
from seawater, brackish water, or treated wastewater. About 71%
of the earth surface is covered by water which is in the form of the
oceans, seas and the ices in the poles. However, only about 3% of
water is fresh and suitable for drinking. The water of the oceans
and seas is salty and thus not directly utilizable. Therefore, some
special processes are needed to desalinate these waters [1].
Meanwhile, copper, zinc, lead and chromium are Persistent,
Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) chemicals. The PBT chemi-
cals are of particular concern not only because they are toxic but
also because they remain in the environment for long periods of
time, are not readily destroyed, and build up or accumulate in
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 77240496; fax: +98 21 77240495.
E-mail address: torajmohammadi@iust.ac.ir (T. Mohammadi).
pose human and environmental health threats and consequently
releases of these chemicals warrant recognition by communities.
Hence, their eliminating from wastewater is of great importance
[2].
Pollution prevention has become a central part of the thinking
for regulators, chemists, chemical engineers, process engineers
and others in chemical manufacturing. Efforts have been under-
taken to identify new processes that inherently produce less
pollution to be used in tomorrow’s processing plants. New tech-
nologies such as membrane technologies to recover and reuse
waste process streams are enjoying interest.
ED with ion exchange membranes represents one of the
most important membrane methods. It deals with the problems
of desalination of salted waters, wastewater minimization,
ultra-pure water production, concentration of dilute solutions,
separation of electrolytes and non-electrolytes and production
of acids and alkalis from their salts. It is also applied for whey,

1383-5866/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2006.08.023
148 M. Sadrzadeh et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156
organic acids and sugar demineralization, amino acid and
blood treatments, concentration of mineral acids, preparation of
isotonic solutions and wine stabilization. The deep ecological
aspect of this method implies favorable forecast for its future [3].
Experiments were conducted using Taguchi experimental
design. Taguchi approach developed rules to carry out exper-
iments, which further simplify and standardize the experiment
design. In Taguchi method, the results of experiments are ana-
lyzed to achieve the following objectives: (1) to find the best
or optimal condition for the product or process, (2) to identify
the contribution of individual factors and (3) to estimate the
response under optimal conditions. A commonly applied statis-
tical treatment, analysis of variance (ANOVA), was also used to
analyze the results of experiments and to determine how much
variation each factor contributes. By studying the main effects
of each factor, the general trends of the influencing factors, can
be characterized. The characteristics can be controlled, such that
a lower or a higher value in a particular factor produces the pre-
ferred result. Thus, the levels of influencing factors, to produce
the best results, can be predicted.
2. Materials and method
2.1. ED setup
The ED setup consists of a feed tank (TK-01) where waste
water is stored, two pumps (P-01 and P-02, RESUN submersible
pump, P = 4 W, total head = 0.5 m), a rectifier (DC-01, RST
SPASTELL TRF LSF 0.1) and two globe valves (GB-01 and
GB-02) to control feed flow rate in the three compartments of a
self designed ED cell [4,5]. Fig. 1 shows a simplified diagram
of the ED setup.
2.2. Cell and membranes
ED cell is packed with a pair of ion exchange membranes
(cation and anion) and a pair of platinum electrodes (anode and
cathode). Both electrodes are made of pure platinum. Area of
Fig. 1. A simplified diagram of an ED setup.
Table 1
IEC values of applied membranes
Membrane type IEC
AMV 4.4
CMV 5.2
AR204SXR412 2.8
CR67, MK111 2.4
each electrode is 4.2 mm × 4.2 mm. Thickness of dilution cell
(center) is 4 mm and thickness of each concentrate cell (left
and right) is 3 mm. Two types of membranes were used in all
experiments:
• Type 1: AMV and CMV anion and cation exchange mem-
branes made by Asahi Glass Co., Tokyo, Japan.
• Type 2: AR204SXR412 and CR67, MK111 anion and cation
exchange membranes supplied by Arak petrochemical com-
plex, Iran and made by Ionics incorporated, Watertown, Mas-
sachusetts, USA.
Effective area of each membrane is 60 mm × 65 mm. IEC
values of these membranes are presented in Table 1.
2.3. Materials
Analytical grade salts (copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, lead
nitrate, chromium nitrate and sodium chloride supplied by
Merck) were used in all experiments to produce solutions with
wastewater qualities. The purpose of these experiments was to
study the effects of voltage, flow rate, temperature and concen-
tration on ED cell performance.
2.4. Analytical method
Concentration of metal ions in the dilute product was mea-
sured using a conductometer (HANA, HI 8633), when separation
of individual ions was investigated. The conductometer was nec-
 M. Sadrzadeh et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156 149

Fig. 2. Flowchart of Taguchi method.

essary to calibrate for each type of ion. When separation of the polymeric backbone due to the almost short run time (about
mixture of ions was investigated atomic absorption (Shimadzu, 30 min). Even if the hydroxides precipitate only on the surface,
AA-670) was utilized. they should increase resistance and consequently decrease SP
[9,10,11]. Hence, after a short period of time, SP increases to
2.5. Experiment and analysis methods a steady value and then decreases. This value was reported and
CIP (Cleaning in Place), using distilled water, was applied to
Two statistical techniques including Taguchi method and remove all precipitants from the membrane surface and make
ANOVA were chosen for this study. Taguchi method utilizes the membrane fresh for the next run.
OA’s from experimental design theory to study a large number Four factors each with three levels (low, medium and high)
of variables with a small number of experiments. OA’s are sub- were chosen based on previous results in related works and qual-
sets of the full factorial experiment which is balanced, i.e., each itative experiments [4,5]. The matrix experiment was designed
variable setting occurs the same number of times and none of by selecting an appropriate OA (L9 array) for control param-
two experiments are the same (or even mirror images). Using eters. Controllable factors and their levels in the L9 array are
OA’s significantly reduces the number of experimental configu- presented in Table 2.
rations to be studied. OA’s were originally discovered by Tippett
in 1934. However, Taguchi simplified their use by providing tab- 3. Results and discussion
ulated sets of standard OA’s and corresponding linear graphs to
fit specific projects [6]. A brief overview of the process followed 3.1. Separation of individual ions
by Taguchi approach to parameter design is provided in Fig. 2.
In this study, the quality characteristic was SP which was The matrix experiment was conducted under the limiting
calculated as follows: current density and the results for ions using two types of mem-
C0 − C branes are recorded in Tables 3 and 4. According to these tables,
SP = × 100 (1)
C0 8th run gives the best SP of metal ions. Selecting this run, as
an optimal condition can be an erroneous decision. Since, based
where, C0 and C are feed and dilute concentrations, respectively.
on L9 OA of Taguchi method, one-ninth (1/9) of all possible
Noise factors were room temperature, pH variation in the cell,
occurring electrolysis on the electrodes, concentration polariza-
tion, precipitation of metal hydroxides such as Cu(OH)2 on the Table 2
cation exchange membranes and voltage variation. Controllable factors and their levels
According to literatures, pH effect on performance of ED Run Controllable factors
cell is negligible especially at voltages greater than 10 V [7,8]. T (◦ C) C (ppm) F (mL/s) V (V)
Higher voltages cause water molecules to dissociate and the
produced H+ or OH− ions give the salty solution acidic or alkalic 1 25 100 0.07 10
2 25 500 0.7 20
properties. Hence, electrical resistance of the solution decreases. 3 25 1000 1.2 30
Obviously, shifting pH to the strong acidic region as well as to 4 40 100 0.7 30
the strong alkalic region, improves ED process performance. At 5 40 500 1.2 10
a limiting voltage (10 V), the dissociation rate decreases and pH 6 40 1000 0.07 20
effect can be neglected. 7 60 100 1.2 20
8 60 500 0.07 30
Metal hydroxides only precipitate on the surface of cation 9 60 1000 0.7 10
exchange membrane and do not penetrate into the cavities of
150 M. Sadrzadeh et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156

Table 3
SP and SNL values for five types of ions using membranes type 1
Run Mean response (SP) Signal to noise ratio (SNL )

Na+ Zn2+ Cu2+ Pb2+ Cr3+ Na+ Zn2+ Cu2+ Pb2+ Cr3+

1 29.11 27.53 22.35 21.65 21.97 29.28 28.75 26.97 26.71 26.84
2 14.82 12.02 13.37 11.15 7.26 23.42 21.56 22.51 20.95 17.22
3 12.83 12.70 11.90 11.77 10.14 22.16 22.07 21.51 21.42 20.12
4 21.36 20.21 15.34 14.16 13.90 26.59 26.03 23.71 23.02 22.86
5 9.10 7.81 8.83 8.24 7.88 19.18 17.80 18.83 18.32 17.93
6 87.24 84.62 82.85 79.40 73.41 38.81 38.55 38.37 38.00 37.32
7 17.96 15.50 8.99 8.01 7.58 25.09 23.57 18.98 18.07 17.59
8 98.54 98.73 97.33 92.95 85.94 39.87 39.89 39.76 39.36 38.68
9 20.50 16.65 16.57 15.70 15.35 26.24 24.42 24.36 23.92 23.72

experiments are carried out, there may be a combination of lev- SN ratio:

els which results in the highest SP. Taguchi approach offers a
statistical model by which the results of supplemental 72 experi-
ments as well as those of other levels are predicted (seventh step
of Taguchi method) [4,12]. Based on the final step of Taguchi
method, confirmation experiments are required to be conducted
using the predicted optimum levels for the control parameters
being studied. In this work, the optimum condition was inci-
dentally observed in the main matrix as Thigh (60 (C), Cmedium
(500 ppm), Flow (0.07 mL/s) and Vhigh (30 V).
Comparing the amounts of SN and mean response for differ-
ent ions, it was found that SP of Na+ which is a monovalent
ion is larger than divalent and trivalent ions, i.e., SCr < SCu ,
SZn , SPb < SNa . For ions of similar valence, SP was observed
to vary as SPb < SCu < SZn . This can be attributed to the differ-
ent molecular weight and electrochemical activation energy of
the ions.
After conducting the matrix experiment, the results should
be analyzed. In order to analyze the results, Taguchi method
uses a statistical measure of performance called signal-to-noise
(SN) ratio. SN ratio takes both the mean and the variability into
account. In its simplest form, the SN ratio is the ratio of the mean
(signal) to the standard deviation (noise). SN equation depends
on the criterion for the quality characteristic to be optimized.
There are three standard SN ratios, i.e., biggest-is-best, smallest-
is-best and nominal-is-best quality characteristics, which are
generally applicable in strength (or yield), contamination and
dimension, respectively. For the larger the better responses,
as in this study, the following relation is used to calculate
⎛ ⎞
n
1 1 ⎠
SN = −10 log ⎝ (2)
n SP2
j
j=1
where, n is the number of all observations used for calculation
of SN. Whatever the type of quality or cost characteristic, the
transformations are such that the SN ratio is always interpreted
in the same way: the larger the SN ratio the better [13,14].
SP and SN for all levels of factors, using membranes type 1,
are illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. The usual approach is to examine
the graphs and pick the winner.
Effect of operating conditions on SP and SN for all ions, is
similar to what reported in previous works. It was verified that,
temperature, concentration and voltage are directly proportional
to SP and SN, while increasing flow rate decreases SP and SN.
Hence, in the case of higher temperatures, voltages and con-
centrations electrical resistance of the feed solution decreases
and subsequently ED separation performance increases. It was
also approved that SP at 500 ppm is slightly greater than that at
1000 ppm. Taking a closer look to Figs. 3b and 4b, it is found that
SP varies inversely and SN varies proportionally with concen-
tration level from 500 to 1000 ppm. Based on Taguchi approach,
it can be concluded that greater amounts of concentration than
500 ppm have almost no effect on SP [10]. Hence, it can be
concluded that ED is more efficient at lower concentrations and
can be applied as a post-treatment process for desalination of
wastewater or sea water.

Table 4
SP and SNL values for five types of ions using membranes type 2
Run Mean response (SP) Signal to noise ratio (SNL )

Na+ Zn2+ Cu2+ Pb2+ Cr3+ Na+ Zn2+ Cu2+ Pb2+ Cr3+

1 28.41 26.48 20.15 19.95 19.08 29.07 28.45 26.07 26.00 25.61
2 12.53 8.05 11.58 10.80 7.11 21.96 18.11 21.27 20.67 17.04
3 11.70 11.05 9.36 9.23 8.42 21.36 20.84 19.40 19.30 18.51
4 21.16 19.16 13.10 12.65 11.52 26.51 25.56 22.25 22.04 21.23
5 8.47 7.56 6.45 6.83 5.84 18.56 17.55 16.19 16.69 15.33
6 85.36 83.67 81.67 76.86 70.58 38.63 38.45 38.24 37.71 36.97
7 13.16 10.80 6.36 8.39 7.59 22.39 20.64 16.02 18.48 17.60
8 98.06 97.67 94.94 92.96 81.40 39.83 39.80 39.55 39.37 38.21
9 18.83 15.85 15.08 14.39 14.26 25.50 23.97 23.56 23.16 23.08
 M. Sadrzadeh et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156 151

Fig. 3. Effect of (a) temperature, (b) concentration, (c) flow rate and (d) voltage on SP.

Fig. 4. Effect of (a) temperature, (b) concentration, (c) flow rate and (d) voltage on SN.
152 M. Sadrzadeh et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156

Taguchi method uses graphs of the marginal means of each
factor, but these graphs are only used to show the trend of each
factor more understandable. It is incorrect to use these graphs to
predict other values which were not experimented. According
to Fig. 3b at a concentration of about 600 ppm, maximum
SP is observed which should be confirmed with experi-
mentation.
Behavior of different ions is better shown in Figs. 3 and 4.
Results concluded before (SCr < SPb < SCu < SZn < SNa ) were
confirmed using these figures. For membrane type 2, the same
results were obtained.
3.2. Comparison of applied membranes
Effects of controllable factors on SP and SN for Zn2+ ions
using both types of membranes are displayed in Fig. 5. Compar-
ing the amounts of SP and SN for these membranes, it was found
that performance of the membranes type 1 is slightly better than
that of type 2.
Better performance of the membranes type 1 can be
attributed to their higher ion exchange capacity (Table 1). For a
membrane, IEC is directly proportional to its water content and
its ion conductivity [15]. Hence, the higher ion conductivity and

Fig. 5. Effect of (a) temperature, (b) concentration, (c) flow rate, (d) Voltage on ȳ and (e) temperature, (f) concentration, (g) flow rate, and (h) voltage on SN, for
Zn2+ ion using the membranes type 1 and type 2.
 M. Sadrzadeh et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156 153

the more swelling, the higher IEC values. In membranes with
higher IEC, diffusion of coions is facilitated into the swollen
polymeric network due to the fact that Donnan exclusion does
no longer work efficiently. Thus, ion-permselectivity through
the membrane decreases. In order to avoid the reduction of ion-
permselectivity and mechanical stability, the polymeric matrix
of the membrane needs to be crosslinked. This reduces the mem-
brane swelling [16]. As a result, it can be concluded that rate
of ion removal enhances with increasing IEC of the membrane.
Using experimental data of other ions, the same figures as Fig. 5
can be plotted. These figures confirm the results concluded
before.
3.3. Separation of mixture of ions
Some experiments were conducted on a mixture of ions to
verify the effect of ion type on performance of ED process more
Table 5
Concentration of ions in the feed solution with obtained results
precisely. All experiments were accomplished under operating
condition of the second run of L9 OA (T = 25 ◦ C, F = 0.7 mL/s,
C = 500 ppm and V = 20 V). Five factors (Na+ , Cu2+ , Zn2+ , Pb2+
and Cr3+ ) in four levels (1/n, 2/n, 3/n and 4/n of 500 ppm, where
n is sum of the numbers at each run) were investigated, using a
L16 OA. Concentration of ions in the feed solution at each run
along with the acquired response (SP of each ion and total SP)
are presented in Table 5. As can be seen, the results confirm that
SP of Na+ is the greatest and SP of Cr3+ is the smallest. SP’s
of other ions are between these limiting values. This is likely
due to the fact that monovalent ions occupy more surface active
sites and this restrains other ions to pass through the membranes.
Number of surface active sites which are occupied by trivalent
ions is three times more than that occupied by monovalent ions.
Since amount of these sites in a membrane surface is constant, it
is obviously concluded that SP decreases with increasing valent
of ions.

Run Levels and calculated concentration (ppm) SP of ions (%) SPt (%)

Na+ Cu2+ Zn2+ Pb2+ Cr3+ Na+ Cu2+ Zn2+ Pb2+ Cr3+

1 1 1 1 1 12.0 10.4 10.5 9.7 7.1 9.9

1
100 100 100 100 100
1 2 2 2 2 10.4 10.3 10.8 9.9 7.5 9.7
2
56 111 111 111 111
1 3 3 3 3 10.1 10.6 10.8 10.1 7.5 9.8
3
39 116 116 116 116
1 4 4 4 4 10.1 10.7 11.0 10.3 7.5 9.9
4
30 118 118 118 118
2 2 1 3 4 11.7 8.9 10.2 10.5 8.8 10.0
5
84 84 42 125 167
2 1 2 4 3 11.6 10.0 9.3 11.1 7.3 9.9
6
84 42 84 167 125
2 4 3 1 2 11.7 10.9 12.0 8.8 6.6 10.5
7
84 167 130 42 125
8 2 3 4 2 1 11.5 11.3 11.5 9.1 6.2 10.6
84 125 167 84 42
3 3 1 4 2 11.9 8.7 10.8 11.2 6.3 10.3
9
115 115 39 154 77
3 4 2 3 1 12.2 10.0 11.9 10.1 6.0 10.8
10
115 154 77 115 39
3 1 3 2 4 12.3 10.5 9.3 9.0 7.8 9.8
11
115 39 115 77 154
3 2 4 1 3 12.1 11.1 10.4 8.8 7.1 10.1
12
115 77 154 39 115
4 4 1 2 3 12.3 8.6 11.8 9.0 7.4 10.4
13
143 143 36 71 107
4 3 2 1 4 12.5 9.8 10.5 8.5 7.7 10.0
14
143 107 71 36 143
4 2 3 4 1 12.6 10.4 10.2 11.2 5.9 10.9
15
143 71 107 143 36
4 1 4 3 2 12.5 11.0 9.2 9.9 6.2 10.4
16
143 36 143 107 71
154 M. Sadrzadeh et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156

Fig. 6. Effect of concentration of different ions in the feed solution on total SP.

Under an electric field, in the absence of membranes, ions the relative importance of various factors. ANOVA demonstrates
move competitively, based on the ratio of electrical charge to whether the observed variation in the response is due to alteration
mass of the ions (e/m). In an ED process, membranes have a key of level adjustments or experimental standard errors. ANOVA
role in this competition. In order to reach an equilibrium state in procedure results in calculation of sum of squares (SS), degree
a membrane, number of positive ions should be equal to that of of freedom (d.o.f.), mean square (variance) and associated F-test
negative ions based on the electroneutrality rule, i.e., a trivalent of significance (F). SS of factors is calculated as follows:
positive ion is accompanied with a trivalent negative ion. Hence,
KA
 
monovalent ions win the competition to equilibrate membranes  A2i T2
and pass through them with less difficulty. SSA = − (3)
n Ai N
Effects of concentration of different ions in the feed solution i=1
on total SP are depicted in Fig. 6. As can be seen, total SP
increases as concentrations of Na+ , Cu2+ , Zn2+ and Pb2+ ions where, KA is the number of levels of factor A (KA = 3 for all
increase in the feed solution, contrary to what is observed for factors in this study), nAi the number of all observations at level i
Cr3+ ion. of factor A (nAi = 6 in this study), Ai the sum of all observations
When the amount of Na+ ion increases in the solution, of level i of factor A and T is the sum of all observations. SS of
amounts of other ions decrease, due to constant total concen- error is computed using the following equation:
tration (500 ppm). Since, as discussed before, SP of Na+ ion is
greater than that of other ions, total SP increases. Increasing the SSe = SST − (SSA + SSB + · · ·) (4)
amount of divalent ions affects total SP insignificantly. This is
due to the dual effect of decreasing Na+ and Cr3+ ions in the where, SST is the total SS:
feed solution on total SP. Effect of increasing Cr3+ ion on SP is
opposed to what was mentioned for Na+ ion. 
N
T2
SST = (SP2j ) − (5)
N
j=1
3.4. ANOVA
where, N is the number of all observation. Variance is calcu-
After performing the statistical SN analysis, ANOVA needs lated by dividing the sum of squares by the degrees of freedom,
to be employed for estimating error variance and determining VA = SSA /νA . νA is estimated by νA = KA −1. F-value is calcu-
 M. Sadrzadeh et al. / Separation and Purification Technology 54 (2007) 147–156 155

Table 6
Statistical results based on Zn2+ experimental data
Factor d.o.f. SS Variance F P

Type 1 Type 2 Type 1 Type 2 Type 1 Type 2 Type 1 Type 2

Flow rate 2 10349.01 13148.54 5174.50 6574.27 2388.2 7324.5 71.07 69.22
Voltage 2 1699.84 2354.05 849.92 1177.02 392.3 1311.3 9.33 11.10
Temperature 2 1363.88 2110.44 681.94 1055.22 314.7 1175.6 11.63 12.38
Concentration 2 1134.18 1370.39 567.09 685.19 261.7 763.4 8.01 7.28
Error 9 19.50 8.08 2.17 0.90 – – – –

Fig. 7. Contribution of each factor on the response for all ions using membranes type 1.

lated as follows: of different membranes (AR204SXR412 and CR67MK111 and

VA
FA =
Ve
where, Ve is the error variance (Ve = SSe /νe ). νe is the error
degree of freedom, estimated by νe = νT − (νA + νB + · · ·). The
total degree of freedom (νT ) is calculated subtracting N from 1
(N − 1). Using νA and νe , F values are initially extracted from
statistical tables at various risks (α). If the extracted F-value is
smaller than the calculated one, the statistical significance of
effect will be concluded. As an example, calculated statistical
results based on experimental data for separation of Zn2+ ions
are presented in Table 6.
The same table can be provided for other ions. P, in this table,
is the percent of contribution of each factor on the response
(PA = SSA /SST × 100) which is plotted for all ions, using mem-
brane type 1, as a Pareto chart in Fig. 7.
ANOVA reveals that calculated F values exceed the tabulated
values. For α = 0.05 and 0.01, tabulated F values are 4.26 and
8.02, respectively. It means that variance of all factors is sig-
nificant compared with variance of error and all of them have
significant effect on the response. Fig. 6 indicates that, P values
of temperature, concentration and voltage are almost the same
and are smaller than those of flow rate. This means that flow rate
is the most influential factor.
4. Conclusion
In the present work, separation of monovalent (Na+ ), divalent
(Cu2+ , Zn2+ , Pb2+ ) and trivalent (Cr3+ ) ions from wastewater
was investigated using a laboratory scale ED cell. Two types
AMV and CMV) with different IEC were used. Taguchi data
(6) analysis method was utilized to study four parameters in three
levels (L9 OA). Effect of concentration (100, 500, 1000 ppm),
temperature (25, 40, 60 ◦ C), flow rate (0.07, 0.7, 1.2 mL/s) and
voltage (10, 20, 30 V) on SP of individual ions in the solution
was scrutinized. As a result, higher temperature, higher con-
centration (concentrations greater than 500 ppm have almost
no effect on the performance), higher voltage and fewer flow
rate were recommended to modify performance of ED cell.
ANOVA analysis was applied to evaluate the relative impor-
tance of the effects of various factors. It was realized that all
factors have significant effect on the response and flow rate has
the largest contribution to the total sum of squares and corre-
spondingly has a major effect on SP. The results confirmed that
a pair of membranes with higher IEC causes better results for
ED cell. Effects of ion type on performance of ED cell were
indicated taking a quick look to the experimental results. It was
found that SP of monovalent ions is larger than divalent and
trivalent ions and for ions of similar valence, SP is dependent
on molecular weight and electrochemical activation energy of
the ions (SCr < SPb < SCu < SZn < SNa ). Finally, conducting some
experiments on a mixture of ions using a L16 OA, previous
results were confirmed. It was also found that performance of
ED cell is almost independent on the type of ions and to a
large extent depends on the operating conditions and the cell
structure.
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