Main reason for the current losses in electrolytic magnesium production is the reaction between electrode products. Present study was devoted to effective separation of chlorine gas from the electrolysis environment by a new cell design and thus reducing the extent of back reaction between magnesium and chlorine to decrease energy consumption values. The new cell design was tested by changing temperature, cathode surface, current density, anode cathode distance and electrolyte composition.
Both the voltages and the current efficiencies were considered to be influenced by the amount and hydrodynamics of chlorine bubbles in inter-electrode region. Cell voltages were also found to be affected from the nucleation of magnesium droplets and changes in electrolyte composition that took place during the electrolysis. A hydrodynamic model was used to calculate net cell voltage by including the resistance of chlorine bubbles on anode surface to theoretical decomposition voltage during electrolysis. Good correlations were obtained between experimental and calculated voltages. The same model was used to calculate current efficiencies by considering chlorine diffusion from bubble surfaces. A general agreement was obtained between calculated and experimental current efficiencies.
Desired magnesium deposition morphology and detachment characteristics from cathode were obtained when MgCl2-NaCl-KCl-CaCl2 electrolytes were employed. Current efficiencies higher than 90% could be achieved using the above electrolyte. The cell consumes around 8 kWh& / #903 / kg-1 Mg at 0.43 A& / #903 / cm-2 as a result of high chlorine removal efficiency and capability of working at low inter-electrode distances. Furthermore, the cell was capable of producing magnesium with less than the lowest energy consumption industrially obtained, at about double the commonly practiced industrial current density levels.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12607464/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 August 2006 |
| Creators | Demirci, Gokhan |
| Contributors | Karakaya, Ishak |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for METU campus |
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