Effect of a net on the limiting current distribution in a parallel plate electrochemical reactor. Part II: combined effects

Abstract

In Part I, we used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to solve the Navier-Stokes equations surrounding the inert net in a parallel plate channel and presented the individual effects of the transverse and longitudinal ribs on the limiting current density distribution. The type, location, spacing, and number of the ribs of the net were shown to affect the local and average current density distributions on each of the two electrodes. In Part II, we present the combined effects of the longitudinal and transverse ribs on the limiting current distribution. We calculated the enhancement factors for both the combined and individual effects and compared. The longitudinal ribs decreased the average current density whereas the transverse ribs increased the average current density relative to the no-net parallel plate reactor system. A maximum enhancement of 250% in the average current density for a spacing of 0.94 × 10−3 m was obtained with 16 transverse ribs. For the same spacing, a negative 70% enhancement was obtained with 14 longitudinal ribs and no transverse ribs. A maximum enhancement of 180% was observed for the entire net (14 longitudinal and 29 transverse ribs). The enhancements at each electrode are different for a given geometry.