Title
Overcoming Mass Transport Limitations in Electrochemical Reactors with a Pulsating Flow Electrolyzer
Author
Pérez Gallent, E.
Sánchez Martínez, C.
Geers, L.F.G.
Turk, S.
Latsuzbaia, R.
Goetheer, E.L.V.
Publication year
2020
Abstract
Electrochemical processes are a promising technology for industrial production of chemicals. One of the major drawbacks of electrochemical systems is the low mass transfer of reactants toward the active surface area of the electrode. In this paper, an approach is presented to enhance the mass transfer and increase the overall performance of the reactions. The strategy comprises introduction of a pulsed electrolyte flow in the electrochemical flow cell. This pulsating behavior results in an improved mass transfer of electroactive species due to a higher instantaneous velocity driven by the pulsations. Though the net residence time of the reactants will not be altered due to the pulsation, the resulting enhancement of mass transfer leads to an increase of the conversion. The oxidation of 1,2-propanediol to lactic acid and pyruvic acid mediated by 4-acetamido-(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl) oxidanyl (ACT-TEMPO) was chosen to study the influence of the pulsed flow. Under the pulsating regime, a yield increase of lactic acid of a factor of two and a 15–20% gain in selectivity to a total of 95% toward lactic acid can be achieved by tuning the process parameters.
Subject
Electrolytes
Industrial chemicals
Lactic acid
Active surface area
Electroactive species
Electrochemical flow cells
Electrochemical process
Electrochemical reactor
Electrochemical systems
Industrial production
Mass transport limitation
Mass transfer
High Tech Systems & Materials
Industrial Innovation
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:8179bc28-8858-44eb-ac72-775bf77a2114
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b06925
TNO identifier
955312
Publisher
American Chemical Society ACS, Washington DC, USA
ISSN
0888-5885
Source
Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 59 (59), 5648-5656
Document type
article