Electro-fluid analysis of a molten-salt electrorefiner with rotating cruciform anode baskets

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based multiphysics model of a molten-salt electrorefiner is presented for the computational electro-fluid analysis. A target model of the electrorefining cell presented here has a structure arranged concentrically with the cathode annulus surrounding a rotating cruciform anode inside it. This comprehensive approach of a multiphysics model solves the convective and diffusive transport of ionic uranium and allows for a prediction of the concentration present in the LiCl–KCl eutectic electrolyte between the electrodes at a current driven condition. The coupling of the local overpotential distribution and uranium concentration gradient makes it possible to predict the local current density distribution at the electrode surfaces.     

Mathematical modeling and simulation of the reaction environment in electrochemical reactors

An electrochemical reactor, enabling controlled flow and capable of including a varied range of forms of electrodes, is important in the studies of electrochemical processes, such as energy production and storage, electrosynthesis of chemicals, electrowinning of metals, purification of water, wastewater treatment, remediation of soils, and so on, before the process development and scale-up. Here, we reviewed recent advances in modeling and simulation of the reaction environment in many electrochemical reactors used in multiple applications. The importance of computational fluid dynamics simulations to study existing reactors and to design novel reactor geometries and some components of existing cells is discussed. Aspects include the effect of electrolyte velocity on the flow dispersion, mass transport rates, and current distribution.     

Computational analysis of a molten-salt electrochemical system for nuclear waste treatment

This paper describes ongoing research into the multi-physics model development of an electrorefining process for the treatment of spent nuclear fuel. A forced convection of molten eutectic (LiCl–KCl) electrolyte in an electrorefining cell is considered to establish an appropriate electro-fluid model within the 3-dimensional framework of a conventional computational fluid dynamic model. This computational platform includes the electrochemical reaction rate of charge transfer kinetics which is described by a Butler–Volmer equation, while mass transport is considered using an ionic transport equation. The coupling of the local overpotential distribution and uranium concentration gradient makes it possible to predict the local current density distribution at the electrode surfaces.     

Electrochemical performance of 5 kW all-vanadium redox flow battery stack with a flow frame of multi-distribution channels

In this paper, a flow frame with multi-distribution channels is designed. The electrolyte flow distribution in the graphite felt electrode is simulated to be uniform at some degree with the tool of a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package of Star-CCM+. A 5 kW-class vanadium redox flow battery (VRB) stack composed of 40 single cells is assembled. The electrochemical performance of the VRB stack is investigated. Under the applied current density of 60 mA cm^?2 during the charge and discharge processes, the current and energy efficiencies are delivered to be 93.9 and 80.8 %, respectively. A higher average output power of 7.2 kW can be achieved at the current density of 80 mA cm^?2 with a lower energy efficiency of 78.4 %. The studies of kW-class VRB stack can be beneficial to the development of large-scale energy storage.     

Charge displacement by adhesion and spreading of a cell

The potentiostatic control of surface charge density and interfacial tension of an electrode immersed in an aqueous electrolyte solution offers a possibility for direct studies of non-specific interactions in cell adhesion. Unicellular marine alga, Dunaliella tertiolecta (Chlorophyceae) of micrometer size and flexible cell envelope was used as a model cell and 0.1 M NaCl as supporting electrolyte. The dropping mercury electrode acted as in situ adhesion sensor and the electrochemical technique of chronoamperometry allowed measurement of the spread cell-electrode interface area and the distance of the closest approach of a cell. The adhesion and spreading of a single cell at the mercury electrode causes a displacement of counter-ions from the electrical double layer over a broad range of the positive and negative surface charge densities (from +16.0 to -8.2 microC/cm2). The flow of compensating current reflects the dynamics of adhesive contact formation and subsequent spreading of a cell. The adhesion and spreading rates are enhanced by the hydrodynamic regime of electrode's growing fluid interface. The distance of the closest approach of an adherent cell is smaller or equal to the distance of the outer Helmholz plane within the electrical double layer, i.e. 0.3-0.5 nm. There is a clear evidence of cell rupture for the potentials of maximum attraction as the area of the contact interface exceeded up to 100 times the cross-section area of a free cell.     

Microfluidic hydrogen fuel cell with a liquid electrolyte

We report the design and characterization of a microfluidic hydrogen fuel cell with a flowing sulfuric acid solution instead of a Nafion membrane as the electrolyte. We studied the effect of cell resistance, hydrogen and oxygen flow rates, and electrolyte flow rate on fuel cell performance to obtain a maximum power density of 191 mW/cm2. This flowing electrolyte design avoids water management issues, including cathode flooding and anode dry out. Placing a reference electrode in the outlet stream allows for independent analysis of the polarization losses on the anode and the cathode, thereby creating an elegant catalyst characterization and optimization tool.     

Performance of planar electrode-supported high-temperature solid oxide fuel cell using syngas

In China, coal is a dominant energy source. In order to ensure China’s energy security, coal should be used efficiently and cleanly. Integrated gasification fuel cell hybrid power generation system is a promising system for coal utilization. It combines clean coal gasification technology with high efficient fuel cell technology. In this work, the performance of solid oxide fuel cell using syngas as fuel was investigated, based on the commercial computational fluid dynamic software and the developed program used to analyze chemical, electrochemical, heat/mass transfer, current, and electric potential. The results show that the temperature difference is about 300 K in the cell under all calculation conditions. Along the cell length, hydrogen concentration rapidly reduces, and its decrement is larger than that of carbon monoxide. The variation of current density in electrolyte layer is relatively small along the direction of gas flow, but it is obvious along the direction vertical to gas flow.     

2-甲基吡啶在PbO2-SPE组合电极上的电氧化研究

分别采用热压法和热压-电镀法制备PbO2-SPE组合电极, 通过循环伏安和稳态极化曲线测量, 研究了这两种电极对2-甲基吡啶电氧化反应的电催化活性, 同时考察了工作电极电解液中有、无液相支持电解质电位与电流密度的关系及不同对电极电解液情况下, 电流密度与过电位和过电位与槽压的关系. 通过一般PbO2电极与热压-电镀法PbO2-SPE组合电极在电流密度与过电位和电流密度与槽压变化的比较, 发现热压-电镀法制备的PbO2-SPE组合电极在相同过电位下具有更高的电流密度, 在相同电流密度下具有较低的槽压.     

A novel approach to the uniform distribution of liquid in multi-channel (electrochemical) flow-through cells

Four-channel flow-through electrochemical cell working in thin-layer regime was designed, fabricated and characterized experimentally and in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The new principle of operation allows reproducible splitting of a stream of liquid into multiple flow channels. Systems comprising of 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-channels were tested. The proper function of the cell is given by the ratio of the cross-sections of the fluidic element collecting chamber and the particular flow paths among which the liquid is distributed. Suitable flow rates providing uniform liquid distribution were evaluated and the results were compared to CFD modeling. The flow-through cells designed according to the proposed principle can be simply incorporated in automated routine analysis as only one inlet and one common outlet are required.     

In situ identification and quantification in a flow cell with AAS downstream analytics

To broaden the application range of materials and the challenge of corrosion protection leads to the development of novel metal coatings. Therefore, an investigation of the reactions between the coating and different process media under laboratory conditions is necessary. In the current work, a system is established which allows a continuous in situ identification and quantification of the soluble species by coupling a flow-through cell with an atomic absorption spectrometer. Because of the cell design, it is also possible to observe surface changes and gas formation. To improve the process media flow through the cell and to reduce peak broadening of the analyte signal in the atomic absorption spectroscope due to enlarged retention time of soluble species from interest, the cell geometry was adapted and the flow was simulated with a computational fluid dynamics software.     

Dynamics of copper electrodeposition onto fibrous carbon electrodes

Distribution of copper electrodeposited from a sulfuric acid solution onto fibrous carbon electrodes, copper deposition rate, and current efficiency by the metal were studied in relation to the electrolysis duration, electrical conductivity of the electrode, geometric current density, and solution flow rate. The variation of the electrode thickness on which copper ions discharge at the limiting diffusion current at various solution flow rates and the electrode thickness on which the whole amount of oxygen dissolved in the electrolyte is reduced were calculated in relation to the solution flow rate and geometric current density. The main factors governing the distribution of copper across the electrode thickness and the electrolysis parameters from the beginning of the process till ??clogging?? of a part of the electrode by the metal were determined.     

3-甲基吡啶在PbO2-SPE组合电极上的电氧化研究

采用热压法制备PbO₂-SPE组合电极,通过循环伏安和稳态极化曲线测量研究了该电极对3-甲基吡啶电氧化反应的活性.考察了阳极液中有、无液相支持电解质和不同阴极液情况下,电流密度与过电位和过电位与槽压的关系.初步研究了利用PbO₂-SPE组合电极在无液相支持电解质的溶液中进行3-甲基吡啶电氧化制取烟酸的可行性,给出了特定条件下的选择性和电流效率.     

Mass transfer enhancement for mesh electrode in a tubular electrochemical reactor using experimental and numerical simulation method

The effect of electrode configuration on mass transfer rate in a tubular electrochemical reactor was investigated with the limiting-current method. The expression of mass transfer enhancement factor was derived from the dimensionless equations for different electrode configurations. Furthermore, the local velocity distribution in the tubular electrochemical reactor was simulated by computational fluid dynamics technology. These simulation results explained the reason of mass transfer enhancement for mesh electrode: the rotation of the solution is induced by high rates of shear, and small eddies are formed. The local velocity distributions in bulk for X-dimension get flatter because of the lateral momentum transfer. Due to the impact and obstruction of electrode holes, the turbulence of the electrolyte gets drastic and the mass transfer performance in the tubular electrochemical reactor is improved.     

氧分压对固体氧化物电解池性能的影响

High-temperature (700–900 ℃) steam electrolysis based on solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) is valuable as an efficient and clean path for large-scale hydrogen production with nearly zero carbon emissions, compared with the traditional paths of steam methane reforming or coal gasification. The operation parameters, in particular the feeding gas composition and pressure, significantly affect the performance of the electrolysis cell. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics model of an SOEC is built to predict the electrochemical performance of the cell with different sweep gases on the oxygen electrode. Sweep gases with different oxygen partial pressures between 1.01 × 10³ and 1.0 × 10⁵ Pa are fed to the oxygen electrode of the cell, and the influence of the oxygen partial pressure on the chemical equilibrium and kinetic reactions of the SOECs is analyzed. It is shown that the rate of increase of the reversible potential is inversely proportional to the oxygen partial pressure. Regarding the overpotentials caused by the ohmic, activation, and concentration polarization, the results vary with the reversible potential. The Ohmic overpotential is constant under different operating conditions. The activation and concentration overpotentials at the hydrogen electrode are also steady over the entire oxygen partial pressure range. The oxygen partial pressure has the largest effect on the activation and concentration overpotentials on the oxygen electrode side, both of which decrease sharply with increasing oxygen partial pressure. Owing to the combined effects of the reversible potential and polarization overpotentials, the total electrolysis voltage is nonlinear. At low current density, the electrolysis cell shows better performance at low oxygen partial pressure, whereas the performance improves with increasing oxygen partial pressure at high current density. Thus, at low current density, the best sweep gas should be an oxygen-deficient gas such as nitrogen, CO₂, or steam. Steam is the most promising because it is easy to separate the steam from the by-product oxygen in the tail gas, provided that the oxygen electrode is humidity-tolerant. However, at high current density, it is best to use pure oxygen as the sweep gas to reduce the electric energy consumption in the steam electrolysis process. The effects of the oxygen partial pressure on the power density and coefficient of performance of the SOEC are also discussed. At low current density, the electrical power demand is constant, and the efficiency decreases with growing oxygen partial pressure, whereas at high current density, the electrical power demand drops, and the efficiency increases.     

钨酸盐/过钨酸盐体系阴极间接电氧化合成红曲黄色素

以自制SBS-g-(AA/StSO3Na)/SBS-g-DMAEMA双极膜作电解槽阴阳两极室的隔膜,借助正交试验确定阴极电还原氧气产生过氧化氢的最优条件,进而利用钨酸钠/过钨酸钠体系由阴极间接电氧化红曲红制备红曲黄色素.实验表明:以石墨作电极,阳极液为10%硫酸溶液,阴极液为0.5g·L-1红曲红丙酮水溶液,添加钨酸钠(浓度15mmol/L),调节pH至3,在通氧速率65cm3/min,电流密度5.78mA.cm-2下电解2h,阴极平均电流效率可达72.39%.电解产物经红外表征和紫外跟踪分析,证实了红曲红烯键环氧化反应的发生.     

Electrohydrodynamic flow and colloidal patterning near inhomogeneities on electrodes

Current density inhomogeneities on electrodes (of physical, chemical, or optical origin) induce long-range electrohydrodynamic fluid motion directed toward the regions of higher current density. Here, we analyze the flow and its implications for the orderly arrangement of colloidal particles as effected by this flow on patterned electrodes. A scaling analysis indicates that the flow velocity is proportional to the product of the applied voltage and the difference in current density between adjacent regions on the electrode. Exact analytical solutions for the streamlines are derived for the case of a spatially periodic perturbation in current density along the electrode. Particularly simple asymptotic expressions are obtained in the limits of thin double layers and either large or small perturbation wavelengths. Calculations of the streamlines are in good agreement with particle velocimetry experiments near a mechanically generated inhomogeneity (a "scratch") that generates a current density larger than that of the unmodified electrode. We demonstrate that proper placement of scratches on an electrode yields desired patterns of colloidal particles.     

Electrolytic Recovery of Cadmium from Cyanide Washing Solutions on Filtering Carbon-Graphite Electrodes

Electrorecovery of cadmium(II) on filtering carbon-graphite electrodes from washing cyanide solutions formed in cadmium-plating of articles in a cyanide electrolyte was studied. The effect of the dilution factor of the supporting electrolyte on the run of cathodic polarization curves, pH value, and solution resistivity was analyzed. The influence exerted by the efficiency of cadmium(II) recovery on the carbon-graphite electrodes was studied in relation to current density, solution flow rate, cadmium(II) concentration in solution, dilution factor of the supporting electrolyte, and material of the carbon-graphite electrode. The possibility of dissolution of cadmium deposited onto a filtering carbon-graphite electrode via anodic dissolution or because of the operation of a short-circuited electrochemical system constituted by the carbon-graphite electrode, cadmium, and cyanide solution was considered.     

Improved properties of positive electrolyte for a vanadium redox flow battery by adding taurine

Taurine was employed as an additive to improve the thermal stability and electrochemical performance of positive electrolyte for a vanadium redox flow battery. The addition of taurine could significantly improve the thermal stability of positive electrolyte, and 2 M V(V) electrolyte with 4 mol% taurine could keep it stable at 40 °C for 120 h, which was 54 h longer than the pristine one. Electrochemical measurements showed that the electrolyte with taurine exhibited superior electrochemical activity and reaction kinetics with a larger diffusion coefficient, exchange current density and reaction rate constant compared with the pristine one. Moreover, the cell using taurine as additive achieved higher average energy efficiency (81.75%) than the pristine cell (79.15%). The Raman and XPS spectroscopy illustrated that taurine could combine with VO²⁺ to form a small molecule complex and the –NH₂ in taurine could be adsorbed on the surface of the electrode to provide more active sites for the electrode reaction, which led to the improvement of mass transfer and the charge transfer process for the V(IV)/V(V) redox reaction.     

The limiting current of electrochemical reaction in the binary electrolyte in the rotating electrochemical cell

A rotating cylindrical electrochemical cell with a plane ring electrode on its cover containing a binary electrolyte was considered. The equation for the diffusion limiting current density on the ring electrode was derived ignoring the effect of Coriolis force. The solution of transfer equations by the Karman method at the limiting current in the cell allowed us to analyze the effect of Coriolis force on the boundary layer thickness and to determine the conditions, under which the Coriolis force may be ignored.     

电流密度对锌电积用Pb-Ag平板阳极电化学行为的影响(英文)

研究了在不同电流密度下进行长时间极化后Pb-Ag(0.8%(质量分数,w))平板阳极的阳极电位、腐蚀率及阳极钝化膜.同时,也研究了该阳极在ZnSO4-MnSO4-H2SO4电解液中的阴极电流效率和阴极锌品质.阳极钝化膜的表面形貌用扫描电镜(SEM)进行观测.实验结果表明,不管电解液中是否存在Mn2+,电流密度对阳极和阴极的电化学行为都产生了显著的影响.随着电流密度的升高,阳极电位、腐蚀率、阴极电流效率和阳极泥生成量也增加,而阴极锌中的Pb含量则减少.当电流密度从500A·m-2降到200A·m-2时,阳极在ZnSO4-MnSO4-H2SO4电解液中的稳定电位和腐蚀率分别减少64mV和40%.此外,在比较低的电流密度下,阳极电位更容易稳定,阳极表面生成的钝化膜更加致密并与基体结合牢固,这些都有利于降低阳极腐蚀率.为了降低阳极电位、减小阳极腐蚀率及阳极泥生成量并提高阴极电流效率和阳极锌品质,锌电积的理想工作条件是较低的阳极电流密度和较高的阴极电流密度.