Electrodeionization (EDI) is a water treatment technology that has gone from an unproven and unknown commodity to one that

has revolutionized the industry in the past 20 years. The technology was first introduced to the market in 1987 by Ionpure Technologies. EDI is used in small and large applications. Laboratories use EDI in systems as low as 360 gallons per day (gpd), while power plants, semiconductor industries or other industrial systems may use EDI systems as large as 13,500 gallons per minute (gpm). The available products are well-suited for all flows inbetween. EDI takes the place of chemically regenerated mixed beds, both on-site and off-site regenerated. EDI uses electrical power to split water molecules which regenerate resin rather than acid and caustic hazardous chemicals. Under + H2O - H + OH
+

DC

electrical

current:

The hydrogen (H ) ions and hydroxyl (OH ) ions continuously regenerate the mixed resin in the EDI module. Water splitting replaces the chemical regeneration process. For illustrative purposes, where R is impurity trapped on the mixed bed resin, the chemical regeneration process is: H2SO4 + - H + RSO4 Or: HCl - H + RCl And: NaOH + R - OH + NaR In traditional ion exchange units, after the contaminants are trapped onto the resin sites, the resin continues to exhaust and lose capacity. In EDI, the contaminates are continuously removed as they are attracted to one of the two electrical charges, and then migrate through the resin bed, through ion exchange membranes and into the concentrate stream where they are removed from the device. EDI is a polishing technology and requires reverse osmosis (RO) as pretreatment. The combination of RO-EDI provides the customer with a continuous, chemical-free system. EDI replaces on-site regenerated mixed-bed resin where end users do not wish to store, handle and neutralize chemicals. EDI also replaces service deionization (SDI) or off-site regenerated mixed beds, as EDI is more reliable, cost effective and requires little maintenance. Under environmental pressure, companies are turning away from their traditional regeneration facilities and electing instead to provide a service contract and lease EDI systems.
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http://www.watertechonline.com/water-softening-conditioning/article/electrodeionization Electrodeionization (EDI) is usually considered a water treatment technology that utilizes an electrode to ionize water molecules and separate dissolved ions (impurities) from water. It differs from other water purification technologies in that it is done without the use of chemical treatments and is usually a tertiary treatment to reverse osmosis (RO).

Applications
An important application for electrodeionization is the production of pure water and ultrapure water. In EDI, the purifying compartments and sometimes the concentrating compartments of the electrodialysis stack are filled with ion exchange resin. When fed with low TDS feed (e.g., feed purified by RO), the product can reach very high purity levels (e.g., 18 Megohms/cm[1]). The ion exchange resins act to retain the ions, allowing these to be transported across the ion exchange membranes. The main usage of EDI technology such as that supplied by Ionpure and SnowPure are in electronics, pharmaceutical, and power generation applications.

Theory
An electrode in an electrochemical cell is referred to as either an anode or a cathode, terms that were coined by Michael Faraday. The anode is defined as the electrode at which electrons leave the cell and oxidation occurs, and the cathode as the electrode at which electrons enter the cell and reduction occurs. Each electrode may become either the anode or the cathode depending on the voltage applied to the cell. A bipolar electrode is an electrode that functions as the anode of one cell and the cathode of another cell. Each cell consists of an electrode and an electrolyte with ions that undergo either oxidation or reduction. An electrolyte is a substance containing free ions that behaves as an electrically conductive medium. Because they generally consist of ions in solution, electrolytes are also known as ionic solutions, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible. They are sometimes referred to in abbreviated jargon as lytes. Water is passed between an anode (positive electrode) and a cathode (negative electrode). Ionselective membranes allow the positive ions to separate from the water toward the negative electrode and the negative ions toward the positive electrode. High purity deionized water results.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrodeionization