Considerations regarding the polarity reversal in electrochemically generated hypochlorite

The effect of reversing the polarity of the applied voltage on the electrochemically generated active chlorine concentration was studied for various operating parameters such as applied current densities, initial brine concentration, polarity reversal periods. The electrochemical reactor consists of an undivided cell chlorinator, provided with two platinised platinum electrodes. The polarity reversal device is based on a multipin relay device which is triggered by a commercially available timer. In order to quantify the effect of the polarity reversal on the active chlorine concentration, one has proposed an amplification factor, K, taken as the ratio between the active chlorine concentration when polarity reversal is applied and the active chlorine concentration when no polarity reversal is applied, having the significance of an indication criterion regarding the effectiveness of the polarity reversal onto the active chlorine generation process. It was found that, with few exceptions, applying the polarity reversal procedure has a beneficial effect on the electrochemically generated hypochlorite.