Characterization of an electrochemical pilot-plant filter-press reactor byhydrodynamic and mass transport studies

This work deals with the study of the influence of turbulence promoters in the hydrodynamic and mass transport behavior of a pilot-plant filter-press electrolyzer (a homemade UA200.08 with a 200 cm(2) electrode area) in an un divided configuration. A simple experimental arrangement was used to genera te data from electrolytic conductivity measurements in a series of impulse- response experiments. The presence and type of turbulence promoters influen ce the flow distribution inside the reactor. A new design of a model (prese nted in a previous work) has been used to analyze the residence time distri butions. In this study a new parameter, the turbulence factor, given as N(a lpha)Phi(beta), was employed to classify the turbulence promoters. The opti mization of the parameters indicates that the correct model is dispersed pl ug-flow behavior with a low axial dispersion that considers exchange betwee n the dead and main zones of the reactor. It is also very interesting to hi ghlight that the information obtained by means of the turbulence factors is similar to that obtained from the values of the mass transport coefficient s measured using the limiting current technique.