Electrochemical and Integrated Process Opportunities for On-Site/On-Demand Generation of Chlorine Dioxide - Final Report - 08/02/1996 - 08/01/1999

[摘要] Due to continued evidence of environmental harm from elemental chlorine bleaching, the nation's paper industry continues to search for cost effective alternative bleaching. A practical and cost effective bleaching alternative is chlorine dioxide manufactured entirely from sodium chlorate. Sodium chlorate is produced by the electrolysis of brine in an undivided cell with steel plate cathodes and dimensionally stable anodes. Although the overpotential at the anode is only 50 mV, the cathodic overpotential is 940 mV. Thus, nearly one volt of electricity is wasted in driving hydrogen evolution at the cathode. Auburn University's Center for Microfibrous Materials Manufacturing has demonstrated that high performance, three dimensional, microfibrous electrodes can improve the performance of capacitors, batteries, hybrid power cells, and electrolysis electrodes in a variety of applications. The goal of this research was to apply this technology to a chlorate cell's cathode and reduce the overpotential between 200 and 400 mV. An economic analysis of the industry has shown that for every 100 mV reduction in overpotential, $100 per square meter of electrode can be saved annually. Due to their enhanced surface area over plates, corrosion of microfibrous electrodes is a major issue in this research. Samples based on chromium protection (i.e. stainless steel) have proved unfeasible for chlorate application. However, samples based on stainless steel and nickel show dramatic performance improvements over industry status quo in chlor-alkali application. Building microfibrous electrodes on a titanium base protected with a silver coating alleviates the corrosion problem and provides 100 mV or more of overpotential reduction. Further reduction is realized by impregnating silver-titanium microfibrous mesh with a PVDF binder and dispersed platinum on activated carbon. The resulting electrodes are mechanically sound, active towards hydrogen evolution, and hold promise for practical industry use.

[发布日期] 2000-01-30 [发布机构] Auburn University

[关键词] Chlorine Dioxide;54 Environmental Sciences;36 Materials Science;Bleaching;32 Energy Conservation, Consumption, And Utilization