A HIGH VOLUMETRIC EFFICIENCY ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL DESIGN FORTREATMENT OF LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF CONTAMINANTS IN LOW CONDUCTIVITY WATER

摘要

An electrochemical cell design is disclosed for the particular applicati on of the electrochemical treatment of contaminants in water. The cell is designed to allow the treatment of low concentrations of contaminants in low conductivity water efficiently, and to be simple to fabricate. The design incorporates tapered inlet and outlet fluid flow manifolds so that the cell pressure drop will be almost entirely due to fluid contacting the electrodes , thus maximising the effective use of the system pump power. A short anode to cathode distance and thin working electrodes are used to minimise resisti ve electrical power losses. The parallel stacked arrangement of the electrodes and the smooth inlet and outlet designs leads to relatively even distributio ns of current density and mass transfer resulting in maximal utilisation of the entire active electrode surface area. The electrodes are connected internally in parallel in monopolar stack modules, and the modules are then connected externally in series, with insulating baffles to minimise current by-pass problems. This provides a simple cell construction (a minimum number of simple insulating baffles) while still simplifying the cell wiring and reducing the cell current demand (allowing tighter wiring to be used).