This research focused on synthesis, characterization, and application of point-of-use catalytic reactive electrochemical membranes (REMs) for electrocatalytic NO reduction. Deposition of Pd-Cu and Pd-In catalysts to the REMs produced catalytic REMs (i.e., Pd-Cu/REM and Pd-In/REM) that were active for NO reduction. Optimal performance was achieved with a Pd-Cu/REM and upstream counter electrode, which reduced NO from 1.0 mM to below the EPAs regulatory MCL (700 μM) in a single pass through the REM (residence time ∼2 s), obtaining product selectivity of <2% toward NO/NH. Nitrate reduction was not affected by dissolved oxygen and carbonate species and only slightly decreased in a surface water sample due to Ca and Mg scaling. Energy consumption to treat surface water was 1.1 to 1.3 kWh mol for 1 mM NO concentrations, and decreased to 0.19 and 0.12 kWh mol for 10 and 100 mM NaNO solutions, respectively. Electrocatalytic reduction kinetics were shown to be an order of magnitude higher than catalytic NO reduction kinetics. Conversion of up to 67% of NO, with low NO (0.7-11 μM) and NH formation (<10 μM), and low energy consumption obtained in this study suggest that Pd-Cu/REMs are a promising technology for distributed water treatment.
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