Scale-Up of Electrochemical Reactors

Electrochemical technology can provide valuable cost efficient and environmentally friendly contributions to industrial process development with a minimum of waste production and toxic material. Examples are the implementation of electrochemical effluent treatment, for example, the removal of heavy metal ions from solutions, destruction of organic pollutants, or abatement of gases. Further progress has been made in inorganic and organic electro synthesis, fuel cell technology, primary and secondary batteries, for example, metal-hydride and lithium-ion batteries. Examples of innovative industrial processes are the membrane process in the chloralkali industry and the implementation of the gas-diffusion electrode (GDE) in hydrochloric acid electrolysis with oxygen reduction instead of hydrogen evolution at the cathode [1]. The main advantages of electrochemical processes are: