COMPUTER-AIDED-DESIGN AND EXPERIMENTAL APPLICATION OF A NOVEL ELECTROCHEMICAL-CELL - THE CONFLUENCE REACTOR

A new electrochemical device is reported based on the confluence of tw o streams of solution. This confluence reactor was designed using fini te element simulations to establish the cell geometry and solution vel ocities appropriate to maintain well-defined hydrodynamic conditions. Computational data is presented to illustrate the flexibility of the t ool for the investigation of chemical reaction mechanisms. Experimenta l studies are presented which examine the relationship between reactan t solution velocities and electrolysis current. Excellent agreement is noted between the computational predictions and experimental results. The confluence reactor is shown to be an easy-to-construct, cheap, an d simple tool that will offer significant benefits to the exploration of chemical and electrochemical processes. The potential applications of the reactor are noted.