The chemical potential of mixing two aqueous solutions can be extracted via an Auto Generative Capacitive Mixing, AGCM, cell using anionic and cationic selective membranes together with porous carbon electrodes. Alternately feeding sea and river water through the unit allows for the system to spontaneously deliver charge and discharge the capacitive electrodes so that DC electric work is supplied. Having a stack of eight cells coupled in parallel demonstrated the viability of this technology. An average power density of 0.055 W m−2 was obtained during the peak of the different cycles, though reasonable optimisation suggests an expectation of 0.26 W m−2 at 6.2 A m−2. It was found that 86 ± 8 percent of the theoretical driving potential was obtained during the operating process. By studying the polarisation curves during charging and discharging cycles, it was found that optimising the feed fluid flow is among the routes to make AGCM with ionic selective membranes a viable salinity difference power source by mixing river and sea water. Another parallel route for increasing the exergy efficiency is lowering the internal ohmic resistances of the cell by design modifications.
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