Electrochemical mass transfer measurements in a Y-bifurcation model

A novel technique was used to fabricate nickel flow models of a straight pi pe and a Y-bifurcation. These were used to obtain integral mass transfer co efficients by the electrochemical technique. For the straight pipe, good ag reement was obtained with previously reported mass transfer correlations. T he use of an upstream anode in addition to the downstream anode led to high er mass transfer at the cathode with laminar flow because of the additional near-wall ions produced by the upstream anode. With increasing Schmidt num ber, the effect of transition from laminar to turbulent flow on mass transf er was delayed to progressively higher Reynolds numbers because of the redu ced mass transfer boundary layer thickness relative to the viscous sublayer . With the Y-bifurcation, possible flow separation and the formation of a n ew mass transfer boundary layer in the daughter branches significantly infl uence the mass transfer behaviour.