Mass Transport and Flow Dispersion in the Compartments of a Modular 10 Cell Filter-Press Stack
Carlos Ponce-de-León A B G , Ian Whyte C D , Gavin W. Reade C E , Stewart E. Male C F and Frank C. Walsh AA Electrochemical Engineering Group, School of Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
B Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
C Regenesys Technologies Limited, OTEF, Aberthaw Power Station, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan CF62 4QT, UK.
D Present address: Potential Reactions Limited, Milton Keynes MK8 8LR, UK.
E Present address: Rolls Royce PLC, PO Box 31, Derby DE24 8BJ, UK.
F Present address: Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK.
G Corresponding author. Email: capla@soton.ac.uk
Australian Journal of Chemistry 61(10) 797-804 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH07161
Submitted: 18 May 2007 Accepted: 14 July 2008 Published: 6 October 2008
Abstract
Flow dispersion, pressure drop, and averaged mass transport measurements have been made to characterize the reaction environment in an industrial scale electrochemical reactor. The 10 cell filter-press stack was operated with a relatively low mean linear velocity in the range 0.6 to 6.2 cm s–1. Flow dispersion was studied by a perturbation–response technique by electrolyte conductivity measurements at the reactor outlet. Mass transport coefficients were evaluated from the first order reaction decay of dissolved bromine (Br3–) which was anodically generated from 1 mol dm–3 NaBr (aq). Each cell consisted of two 0.72 m2 projected area electrodes separated by a cationic membrane, and each electrolyte compartment contained a high-density polyolefin turbulence promoter. The electrodes consisted of a carbon/polyethylene core with a layer of an activated carbon–poly(vinylidene difluoride) composite on each side. Comparison is made with the mass transport characteristics of a similar system that contains five bipolar cells.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge partial financial support by Regenesys Technologies Ltd and contributions to early work by D. A. Szánto and many colleagues at Regenesys Technologies Ltd. The authors are also grateful to John Bishop (Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath) for advice and construction of some electronic equipment used in this work. Early parts of this work were performed in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath, UK.
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