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12. Electrochemical engineering and reactor design

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Electrochemical Energy Systems
This chapter is in the book Electrochemical Energy Systems
12 Electrochemical engineering and reactor design12.1 Safety and security issues in electrochemical reactorsElectrochemical reactors are important for the industrial processing such as alumi-num electrolysis, electrometallurgy, chlor-alkaline electrolysis and water electroly-sis. In the laboratory, you may be looking at an electrochemical cell. At the factory orlarge industrial complex, you are looking at electrochemical reactors.Industrial scale reactors are usually large. This holds for example for the hugeelectrolysis plants or small fuel cell and battery plants which we learned about in theprevious chapters. In general, the danger for the general public and wildlife and forinvestments scales usually with the size of the reactor. Precautions for working withsmall or tiny lab scale cells include wearing personal protective clothing such asgoggles, lab coat, and gloves and boots. These are also necessary when working withlarger scale reactors, but there are additional safety measures required because of thesize of the reactors.A chemical reactor can pose a great danger to the general public particularlywhen it is located in a densely populated area such as in chemical factories like inSeveso [Fortunati 2004, Hay 1976, Sambeth 1983, 2004] or in Bhopal [Gonsalves 2010]or in petroleum refineries and related factories [Anonymous 1985, Berenblut 1985,Sissell 1998, 2003]. There can be many causes for accidents. For example, a tsunamican cause a flood which can cause a failure in a nuclear reactor and thus a majorsecondary nuclear catastrophe, such as in Fukushima in 2011 [Fujii 2011, Iino 2018,Nasu 2015, Ramana 2015]. And, there is also the risk of sabotage and terror acts invarious industries [Bajpai 2007, 2008, Early 2013, Friedrich 2008, Helberg 1947,Vamanu 2014, Weisman 1987].The main purpose of a company and firm is the gain of a profit from themanufacture and sales of a product or a service. It is therefore important to make ahigh quality product at low cost. The yield is also important. The design of the reactor(chemical, electrochemical, bio etc.) can have a large influence on the yield (thequantity) of the product and the quality of the product. You also want to make thereactor safe so that no costly damages can occur, and you want to avoid humancasualties. The companies and their engineers and technicians who design and builtreactors bear therefore a very high responsibility.12.2 Role of mathematics in electrochemical engineeringThe design optimization and operation of electrochemical reactors belong to chemi-cal engineering. A substantial part of chemical engineering is the mastering of thenecessary mathematics for the computation of chemical reactions and yield ofproducts, for example. I can recommend here for example the works of Charleshttps://doi.org/10.1515/9783110561838-012
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

12 Electrochemical engineering and reactor design12.1 Safety and security issues in electrochemical reactorsElectrochemical reactors are important for the industrial processing such as alumi-num electrolysis, electrometallurgy, chlor-alkaline electrolysis and water electroly-sis. In the laboratory, you may be looking at an electrochemical cell. At the factory orlarge industrial complex, you are looking at electrochemical reactors.Industrial scale reactors are usually large. This holds for example for the hugeelectrolysis plants or small fuel cell and battery plants which we learned about in theprevious chapters. In general, the danger for the general public and wildlife and forinvestments scales usually with the size of the reactor. Precautions for working withsmall or tiny lab scale cells include wearing personal protective clothing such asgoggles, lab coat, and gloves and boots. These are also necessary when working withlarger scale reactors, but there are additional safety measures required because of thesize of the reactors.A chemical reactor can pose a great danger to the general public particularlywhen it is located in a densely populated area such as in chemical factories like inSeveso [Fortunati 2004, Hay 1976, Sambeth 1983, 2004] or in Bhopal [Gonsalves 2010]or in petroleum refineries and related factories [Anonymous 1985, Berenblut 1985,Sissell 1998, 2003]. There can be many causes for accidents. For example, a tsunamican cause a flood which can cause a failure in a nuclear reactor and thus a majorsecondary nuclear catastrophe, such as in Fukushima in 2011 [Fujii 2011, Iino 2018,Nasu 2015, Ramana 2015]. And, there is also the risk of sabotage and terror acts invarious industries [Bajpai 2007, 2008, Early 2013, Friedrich 2008, Helberg 1947,Vamanu 2014, Weisman 1987].The main purpose of a company and firm is the gain of a profit from themanufacture and sales of a product or a service. It is therefore important to make ahigh quality product at low cost. The yield is also important. The design of the reactor(chemical, electrochemical, bio etc.) can have a large influence on the yield (thequantity) of the product and the quality of the product. You also want to make thereactor safe so that no costly damages can occur, and you want to avoid humancasualties. The companies and their engineers and technicians who design and builtreactors bear therefore a very high responsibility.12.2 Role of mathematics in electrochemical engineeringThe design optimization and operation of electrochemical reactors belong to chemi-cal engineering. A substantial part of chemical engineering is the mastering of thenecessary mathematics for the computation of chemical reactions and yield ofproducts, for example. I can recommend here for example the works of Charleshttps://doi.org/10.1515/9783110561838-012
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface VII
  3. Acknowledgement IX
  4. Contents XI
  5. 1. Introduction 1
  6. 2. The electrochemical double layer 45
  7. 3. The electrochemical cell 103
  8. 4. Batteries 138
  9. 5. Electroanalytical methods 226
  10. 6. Fuel cells 280
  11. 7. Solid electrolytes 323
  12. 8. Photoelectrochemical cells 356
  13. 9. Electricity in nature 401
  14. 10. Electricity and biology 427
  15. 11. Land use and power plants 475
  16. 12. Electrochemical engineering and reactor design 497
  17. 13. Reaching for the inner of the sun – by nuclear fusion 540
  18. Appendix Resistor Color Code 561
  19. Bibliography 562
  20. Index 630
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110561838-012

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface VII
  3. Acknowledgement IX
  4. Contents XI
  5. 1. Introduction 1
  6. 2. The electrochemical double layer 45
  7. 3. The electrochemical cell 103
  8. 4. Batteries 138
  9. 5. Electroanalytical methods 226
  10. 6. Fuel cells 280
  11. 7. Solid electrolytes 323
  12. 8. Photoelectrochemical cells 356
  13. 9. Electricity in nature 401
  14. 10. Electricity and biology 427
  15. 11. Land use and power plants 475
  16. 12. Electrochemical engineering and reactor design 497
  17. 13. Reaching for the inner of the sun – by nuclear fusion 540
  18. Appendix Resistor Color Code 561
  19. Bibliography 562
  20. Index 630
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