Chemical equipment: Electrochemical filter-press reactor

Electrochemical filter-press reactor

Description:
Electrolytic processes are now being operated for synthesis, pollution control and recycling of process streams on a scale which ranges from a current of one ampere to > 10⁵ A. Our lab is equipped with an electrochemical filter press cell for the study of electrochemical reactions. This reactor has been used in various studies of industrial electrochemical processes, mostly for the abatement of pollution.

Exploded view of a laboratory filter press cell

Technical details:
This reactor, developed by SU organization (Sweden) and marketed by ElectroCell AB in the same country, has a single electrode area of 0.01 m², and has been available as a general purpose cell for bench scale trials and development work since 1992. The cell has been designed to provide reliable data and to aid scale up to industrial production scale electrolysers. It has similar electrode materials, electrode geometries, area per unit volume and interelectrode gap characteristics to the industrial reactors and shares similar mass transport characteristics at a given linear velocity of the electrolyte. Example of the construction of a filter press cell is shown in figure. The internally ported electrolyser contains a number (usually < 5) of electrode pairs interspersed with filled polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) spacers and gaskets and (where needed) ion exchange membrane separators. The assembly is compressed between (polymer coated) stainless steel end plates using eight tie-rods. The reactor can be fitted with a variety of electrode configurations, including flat plates, slotted plates, metal meshes and foams. Electrode materials which are available in our lab include titanium, platinized titanium, and titanium coated with precious metal oxides based on RuO₂. Other electrode materials such as stainless steel, nickel, copper, lead, zirconium, etc. can be used as well. The use of plastic mesh turbulence promoters adjacent to a flat plate electrode can provide moderate increases in mass transport (typically up to 3 times). We have also experimented with the use of porous, three dimensional electrodes providing improvements in the kmA (the product of averaged mass transfer coefficient and electrode area) of as high as 100 times at a given linear velocity. The compromise in using these enhanced surface area electrodes is a less uniform distribution of potential and an increased pressure drop.

Room: 01.19

More Technical information: Techinfo@mtm.kuleuven.be