Combination of Cumulative and Convergent Flows as a Means to Improve the Uniformity of Tertiary Current Distribution in Parallel-Plate Electrochemical Reactors

The study of current distribution is usually made in order to determine the performance of an electrochemical reactor. A comparison of the different types of current distributions is performed concluding that the tertiary one is the most unfavorable in parallel-plate electrochemical reactors. To overcome the problem, a reactor with a perpendicular and cumulative flow at the inlet region coupled with a convergent flow along the axial length, based on previous experimentally validated ideas, 1 , 2 is theoretically analyzed for laminar flow conditions. This configuration allows an important improvement in the reactor performance characterized by a more uniform current distribution under limiting current conditions.