APPLICATION OF METALLIC FOAMS IN ELECTROCHEMICAL REACTORS OF FILTER-PRESS TYPE .1. FLOW CHARACTERIZATION

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the application of nickel foam electrodes in classical filter-press type electrochemical cells. For this purpose the ElectroSynCell(R), commercialized by Electrocell AB, has been used. The interest of using metallic foams linked to a classical plane plate is to improve the performance of the electrochemical cell by increasing the electrode surface area. Moreover, for some industrial applications it is possible to use the cell without a membrane. In the proposed configuration, the working electrodes consist of metallic foam linked to a plane plate and the auxillary electrode is simply a plane plate. The imbalance between the surface areas of working and auxiliary electrodes allows operation with a single hydraulic circuit. This paper, focuses on the study of residence time distribution and pressure drop in order to compare the flow behaviour with that in a classical configuration. A model for the reactive zone of the cell is also given.