Who has got the oldest working CEDI?
Since its commercial inception in 1987 Electrodeionization (CEDI) technology has been subject to continual update and development for new models. Drawing on industry knowledge and individual technological expertise manufacturers have been faced with the challenge of developing the CEDI module design in power applications. Although industry has seen progress in this field there is however still a divide between modern modules and original units dating back to the late 80’s in the last century. With the unit being of such integral importance to all associated industrial applications the question arises as to just how efficient the original modules remain.
A report from Ionpure delivered interesting news in the discovery of a 16 year old unit which was alleged to be as effective in continuous electo-deionization for working water purification used by machinery plants as much more recent models. In the knowledge of this discovery intrigue has been stirred particularly at Ionpure. Here designers in innovative water purification have launched a search to determine just how reliable these original devices really are without subject to upgrade.
“The recent discovery of a 16-year old unit, still able to produce high water quality, has stirred the curiosity of Ionpure’s CEDI module designers and the search is on to find exactly how reliable these early devices can be without overhaul” Reports Ionpure technologies in a recent press release on the topic.
It could be argued that indeed these modules are quite sufficient in providing an effective service to deliver purified water and is why they have not received much need for replacement or their reliability called in to question.
“The performance of the unit at Bioforce, where it has improved the quality of an RO system until its recent retirement, has been remarkable. When commissioned, it produced a water quality of less than 1S/cm in the loop, in continuous operation at 450 l/hr. Nine years later, the SS30 was still producing water with conductivity below 3S/cm, from an RO feed water conductivity of 45 µS/cm”
The changes seen to these units over the course of development have primarily been with thin cell technology, which has come to be replaced by thick cell devices. Bringing improved results. “Thin cell diluting channels can be a detriment to performance using mixed bed resin filler due to a lower chance of obtaining a continuous path between membranes. The remarkable extent of reliability for these modules remains to be unknown with no way of monitoring their working life the continued durability of these units remains a mystery and may continue to spark interest in the minds of technologist for years to come.
