Techno-economic modeling and carbon footprint analysis of electrodialysis technology for ammonium ion recovery

Electrodialysis is a promising technology for ammonium ion recovery, but its techno-economic performance has not been comprehensively explored. This paper presents a process-based techno-economic model and detailed analysis to simulate ammonium ion recovery using electrodialysis stacks, incorporating cell resistance associated with spacer shadow effect, membrane resistance, and electrode rinse solution. The total recovery costs of electrodialysis technology is systematically analyzed by considering costs associated with capital investments, maintenance, energy consumption, replacement, insurance, and labor. The effects of various operating conditions, including feed concentration, dilute concentration, feed flow rate, channel height, and current density, on total recovery costs are also analyzed. The benchmarking results show that electrodialysis achieves lower total recovery costs of $2.63/kg NH 4 + and greenhouse gas emissions of 2.29 kg CO 2 eq/kg NH 4 + compared to the baseline air stripping technology, highlighting electrodialysis as a promising cost-effective and sustainable approach for ammonium ion recovery. • A techno-economic model for ammonium recovery using electrodialysis is proposed. • Reducing energy use significantly enhances electrodialysis economic performance. • Electrodialysis lowers total recovery costs by 65 % compared to air stripping. • Electrodialysis shows economic feasibility for pilot-scale ammonium recovery.