Salt splitting with cation-exchange membranes

The regeneration of acid and base from different salt forms of potassium by electrodialysis (ED) method was investigated in a two-compartment membrane electrolysis cell. Three types of commercial cation-exchange membranes (CEMs) were used to recover acids from solutions containing salt forms of metals. In the experiments, base solutions were used as a catholyte and different salts of potassium were used as an anolyte. The effects of flow rate, current density, initial concentrations of salt and base solutions, the type of salt solution and the type of the cation-exchange membrane on the recovery ratio of acids were investigated. The results obtained show that electrodialysis seems to be an applicable method for the recovery of acids at suitable conditions.