Natural Convection Mass Transfer at a Vertical Array of Closely-Spaced Horizontal Cylinders with Special Reference to Electrochemical Reactor Design

Abstract

Many industrial electrochemical processes such as electrowinning of metals, electrochemical pollution control, and electroorganic and electroinorganic syntheses are diffusion-controlled processes whose rates depend on the geometry of the working electrode as well as the prevailing hydrodynamic conditions. Recently much work has been done to develop new electrochemical reactors which are more efficient than the traditional parallel plate electrochemical reactor used in conducting such processes. In line with this, the object of the present work was to study the natural convection mass transfer behavior of a new electrode geometry, namely an array of closely-spaced horizontal tubes. Natural convection mass transfer at a vertical array of closely-spaced horizontal cylinders was studied by an electrochemical technique involving the measurement of the limiting current of the cathodic deposition of copper from acidified copper sulfate solution. Various combinations of solution concentration, cylinder diameter, and number of cylinders per array were used including experiments on single cylinders. The mass transfer coefficient at the array was found to decrease with increasing number of cylinders, pass through a minimum, and then increase with further increase in the number of cylinders per array; the mass transfer coefficient increased with increasing cylinder diameter in the array. Mass transfer data formore » different arrays were correlated for the range 6.3 {times} 10{sup 9} < ScGr < 3.63 {times} 10{sup 10} by the equation Sh = 0.455(ScGr){sup 0.25} and for the range 6.3 {times} 10{sup 10} < ScGr < 3.63 {times} 10{sup 12} by the equation Sh = 0.0064(ScGr){sup 0.42}. The characteristic length used in the above correlations was obtained by dividing the array area by the perimeter projected onto a horizontal plane. Practical implications of the present results in designing electrochemical reactors with heat transfer facilities are highlighted.« less