Experimental investigation of processing parameters and effects on chloralkali products in an electrolysis based chloralkali reactor

Abstract

In the present study, the effects of different processing parameters on rate of hydrogen, chlorine and sodium hydroxide production are experimentally studied in a newly designed chloralkali process reactor. It is a multi membrane reactor which can also be coupled with a photochemical hydrogen production process. The parameters, which are studied in the present study, include applied voltage varied from 3V to 20V, brine concentration varied from 150g/L to 225g/L, electrolyte concentration in catholyte compartment varied from 35.3g/L to 58.8g/L, electrode height, temperature and different anode materials. A factorial design of experiments is applied and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to analyze the experimental results. Energy and exergy efficiencies are also determined and discussed. The results show that graphite appears to be the most stable anode material. Brine and electrolyte concentration do not affect the production rate of products. Increasing the temperature increases the production but also increases the energy input to the system. Varying electrode height changes the current density which has a significant effect on rate of hydrogen production.