CFD Modeling of Continuous Stirred Tank Electrochemical Reactor

Electrochemical reactors play an important role in electrochemical industries as they directly involve in achieving higher conversion and current efficiency for the desired reaction. The continuous stirred-tank electrochemical reactor (CSTER) is extensively used in electrochemical industries for various applications. The flow behavior of electrolyte in a continuous stirred tank electrochemical reactor [CSTER] has been experimented using Residence Time Distribution (RTD) studies. Experiments were carried out using pulse tracer technique and the exit age distribution curves for various operating conditions have been critically analyzed. A two-dimensional flow model was developed to visualize the electrolyte flow behavior inside the CSTER using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). GAMBIT, Geometry and mesh generation software has been used as pre-processor and computational grid domain was generated with appropriate boundary conditions. Navier-Stoke's equations were used to estimate the electrolyte flow. The influence of electrolyte flow rate, stirrer speed on electrolyte flow behavior was critically examined.