(45f) Evaluation of Particle Growth in an Electrochemical Fluidised Bed Reactor

The process of electrodeposition within electrochemical reactor results in the increase of particle sizes, which increases the volume of the bed. This work entails a mathematical model to describe the effect of this phenomenon on the behaviour of a three-dimensional fluidised bed electrode operating under the condition of electron transfer. The model incorporates the pseudo-stationary behaviour in the reactor since the bed increases in volume due to the particle size growth. The Orthogonal Collocation method was used to solve the developed differential equations. The overpotential distribution and the reaction rate within the reactor have been calculated. The principal results are the effects of the electron transfer operation on the superficial displacement with time. The effects of total applied current, electrode geometry and the bed porosity on the behaviour of the system have been analysed. The result shows a very gradual increase in the bed height.