Current and Potential Distribution in Two-Phase (Gas Evolving) Electrochemical Reactors by the Finite Volume Method

Abstract

A solver was developed and implemented in the OpenFOAM framework in order to predict the current distribution in gas evolving electrochemical reactors. The solver takes into account both liquid and gas flows under turbulent conditions and assumes a bubble population balance with a range of bubble sizes. The possibility of coalescence and breakup of bubbles is also considered. The comparison between experimental results of gas fraction and current distribution, from this research and from previous ones, demonstrates that the solver is able to predict the behavior of this kind of electrochemical systems. The model presented is supplied as a free source code.