Speculations on industrial electrochemistry

Abstract

Large-scale electrochemical processes are commonly used where ionic raw materials are converted into finished products that are either metals or covalently bound. Examples are aluminium production and the chlor-alkali industry. In a few cases they are used to carry out chemically difficult processes such as acrylonitrile dimerization. The advances in electrochemistry and the related electrochemical engineering, coupled with sharply increased energy costs, have led to a new appraisal of electrochemistry in the chemical process industries. It seems likely that the novel electrochemical routes will emerge in situations where the special advantages of electrochemistry such as energy specificity, absence of toxic and reactive intermediates, chemical selectivity, and specific activation of small molecules can be applied. Examples of this will possibly come in the production of chlorine chemicals, nitrogen chemicals, use of CO and CO 2 as carbon sources, and in selective oxidation processes that permit combined production of chemical intermediates and electrical energy.