Evaluation Study of Ammonium Removal from Groundwater by Electrodialysis: Case Study of Real Groundwater from the City of Kenitra in Morocco

Abstract

In this work, we investigated the feasibility of ammonium removal by electrodialysis (ED), a well‐known electro‐membrane process, based on the selective migration of anions and cations through anion exchange membranes (AEMs) and cation exchange membranes (CEMs). ED experiments are performed using a laboratory pilot. The ion exchange membranes (IEMs) pair used is AXE/CMX, AXE as an AEMs and CMX as a CEMs. The first tests are performed with real groundwater solutions from Kenitra city (Morocco), spiked with an initial concentration of 3 mg/L NH ₄Cl. The results gave a specific demineralization (SD) to NH ₄ ⁺ ions of 84.60 %; for a demineralization rate (DR) of 80 % and a time of 60 min. The multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) presents a total inertia of 99.23 %, the majority of the variables of which are positively correlated on the C1 axis with a variance of 95.5 % than that of C2 of 3.78 %. The quality of the diluted water determined by the Legrand‐Poirier method showed that the water was aggressive and that the addition of 4.54 mg/L Ca ²⁺ was necessary to balance the water and make it fit for human consumption.

Abstract

Ammonium in water. Consumption of water polluted by ammonium (NH ₄ ⁺) can cause serious illnesses such as methaemoglobinaemia, mainly in children, as well as cancer. In addition, high concentrations can lead to eutrophication of aquatic environments. The electrodialysis process used achieved a good percentage of ammonium removal from the groundwater studied.