Award Date

1-1-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Committee Member

Darrell W. Pepper

Number of Pages

82

Abstract

Electrolytic cells are used to obtain sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), an important industrial product, from seawater. The chemical reaction of the process (NaCl + H2O → NaOCl + H2) produces hydrogen gas bubbles near the cathode's surface inside a continuous liquid phase. In time, solid particles of calcium carbonate appear on the cell's anode due to the cell operation. Thus, the fluid flow process in the cell, in general, is a three-phase process that includes turbulence. Although hydrogen bubbles and calcium carbonate particles are usually small in size, they aggregate in the system over time and lead to the blockage of the active area of the electrodes, which lowers the efficiency of the cell. It is important to understand where the regions with high concentration of hydrogen bubbles and solid particles inside the cell are located, and to design an optimally shaped electrolytic device. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).

Keywords

Cell; Electrolytic; Flow; Fluid; Modeling; Multiphase; Numerical

Controlled Subject

Mechanical engineering; Chemical engineering; Industrial engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

4741.12 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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