The influence of hydrodynamic and mass transfer entrance effects on the operation of a parallel plate electrolytic cell

Abstract

Experimental measurements of mass transfer in an electrochemical flow cell of rectangular cross section with different hydrodynamic entrance and electrode lengths have been made. For fully developed flow, average Sherwood numbers under laminar conditions vary with Graetz number to a power 0·30. For turbulent flow, fully developed mass transfer conditions occur about twelve equivalent diameters along the electrode and are best represented by the Chilton-Colburn analogy which predicts Sherwood numbers varying with Reynolds number to a power of 0·8 and Schmidt number to a one-third power. For shorter electrodes Sherwood numbers can be adequately correlated by an expression with Reynolds number to a two-thirds power and dimensionless electrode length to a power of −0·2. For hydrodynamic entrance lengths of not less than eight equivalent diameters, data in the laminar region can be expressed by an emperical boundary layer type of equation which includes terms for the hydrodynamic entrance length and electrode length. In the turbulent regime substantially developed flow occurs after eight entrance lengths and correlations with fully developed flow equations are satisfactory