With the view of developing the fluidized bed electrode system, mass transf
er coefficient, overpotential distribution, and copper degradation have bee
n observed in this investigation. Particles whose diameters were one of 327
, 388, 510, 548, 750, and 960 mu m were fluidized by the 1,000 ppm copper s
ulfate electrolyte. This study used two types of the experimental reactor.
One had 5x5.5 cm bed-dimension with various thickness in a rectangular side
-by-side configuration; the other 3.2 cm bed-diameter with various height i
n a cylindrical flow-through configuration. Mass transfer coefficient incre
ased with increasing particle diameter, and the optimum fluidization was ob
tained at the condition of bed porosity near 0.65. For processing a large f
luidized bed reactor, the expansion of bed height at a distance between ele
ctrodes was found to be more effective than the enlargement of bed thicknes
s between electrodes. By replacing a three-dimensional current-feeder with
a plane feeder, degradation and residual concentration of copper ion in a b
atch recycling mode could be achieved to be higher than 99% and less than 5
mg/L, respectively.