Electrochemical engineering

Also the cost of transport and energy, particularly electric power, is widely dependent on the site of the plant. 

Some possible routes for the manufacture of certain products will contain an electrolytic step. The electrolytic route will, however, only be chosen if accountants can be convinced that, in economic terms, it is the best. Furthermore, it must be recognized that commonly the electrolysis will be one stage in a complex sequence and the economic assessment must consider the overall process, e.g. 

Hence one must seek to optimize the total process and it will sometimes be found advantageous to the total process to run the electrolysis under conditions which are non-optimum for the cell if considered alone. For example, a separator may be included in the cell solely to permit simple isolation of pure anode and cathode products although the separator will increase cell resistance (hence energy consumption) and the complexity of the cell design. 

The design and operation of electrolytic processes is the province of the electrochemical engineer. It is convenient for him to concentrate on the electrolysis cell and, indeed, its design is a complex business requiring an understanding of potential and current distribution, electrolyte flow patterns, electrode kinetics, etc., and the consideration of the cost and performance of cell components (e.g. electrodes, separators, rectifiers). The cell, however, must fit into the overall process and hence it is normal to develop figures of merit which indicate cell performance and permit a discussion of its interaction with other parts of the process. 

In comparison to chemical enginecfiiig, the design, development and operation of electrolytic processes has been slow and qualitative. There are, perhaps, several contributory reason for this  

Electrochemistry courses have often been limited to topics such as equilibrium-cell thermodynamics, simple redox kinetics and aspects of electro-analytical chemistry, e.g. pH electrodes and conductivity probes. Additionally, these topics arc sometimes presented in a fragmented fashion, devoid of unifying principles. 

Theoretical treatments of electrochemical reaction engineering, mathematical modelling of reactors and comparative performance of cells have only recently been developed. 

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D. L. Peet, Membrane Durability in Chlor—Alkali Plants, Electrochemical Society Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, Oct. 1987 Proceedings of the Symposium on Electrochemical Engineering in the Chlor—Alkali and Chlorine Industries, PV. 88-2, 1988, pp. 329—336. 

G. Prentice, Electrochemical Engineering Principles, Prentice-HaH, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1991. 

J. R. Selman in R. C. Alkire and T. Beck, eds.. Tutorial Eectures in Electrochemical Engineering andTechnology, AIChE Symposium Senes, Vol. 77, number 204, AIChE, New York, 1981, p. 88. 

E. Heitz and G. Kreysa, Principles of Electrochemical Engineering VCH PubHshers, New York, 1986. 

L. Rousar, K. Micka, and A. Kimla, Electrochemical Engineering Vols. 1 and 2, Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1986. 

E. Hine, Electrode Processes and Electrochemical Engineering Plenum Press, New York, 1985. 

Delahey, P. and Tobias, C. W. (Eds.), Advances in Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, Vols. 1-9, John Wiley (1972)... 

J. Burbank, A.C. Simon, E. Willihnganz, The lead acid cell, in Advances in Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, Vol. 8, John Wiley, New York, 1971, p. 170. 

R. Payne, in Advances in Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, Vol. 7, P. 

W. J. Albery and A. R. Mount, in Electroactive Polymer Electrochemistry, Part 1 Fundamentals, M. E. G. Lyons, ed., Plenum Press, New York (1994) pp. 443-483. i/2R. De Levie, in Advances in Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, P. 

S. Trasatti, The Work Function in Electrochemistry, in Advances in Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, H. Gerisher, and C.W. Tobias, eds., Journal Wiley and Sons (1977). 

Avaca, A., and Bewick, A. (1971). Proceedings of Electrochemical Engineering Symposium , Newcastle. To bo published by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (1973). 

Barl Barz, F., Bernstein, Ch., Vielstich W. Advances in Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, Vol. 13, Gerischer, H. (ed.). New York John Wiley, 1984. 

Fleischmann M, Thirsk HR (1963) in Delahay P (ed) Advances in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering, Wiley-Interscience, New York, vol 3 p 123... 

This training has enabled chemical engineers to become leading contribntors to a number of interdisciplinary areas, inclnding catalysis, colloid science and technology, combnstion, electrochemical engineering, and polymer science and technology. 

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