Haroldo de Araújo Ponte
Federal University of Parana, BR
Title: MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION OF A POROUS BED ELECTROCHEMICAL REACTOR FOR CONVERTION OF HYDROGEN SULPHIDE CONTAMINATED EFFLUENTS INTO SULFATE AND THIOSULPHATE
Biography
Biography: Haroldo de Araújo Ponte
Abstract
This study carried out on the modeling, mathematical (by reaction mechanisms) and experimental (empirical modeling) of an electrochemical reactor of porous bed for convertion of hydrogen sulphide into sulfates and thiosulphates, products used in various industrial processes. The applied mathematical modeling of electrochemical phenomena theory consists of a set of partial differential equations that essentially describes the transport of the species in solution, the electric potential distribution and the charge transfer kinetics at the electrode / electrolyte interface. The solution of the equations, through appropriate numerical methods (finite element method), provides theoretical relations between the quantities of interest (current, potential, concentration, among others), which allows the quantitative analysis of the experiments. The experimental modeling cover the optimization applied to the problems of parameter estimation and discrimination of the empirical model. The study is composed of a theoretical stage, referred to above and an experimental stage. In the experimental stage it was carried out tests in a bench electrochemical reactor, with perpendicular configuration and porous bed composed of reticulated vitreous carbon. As a result, sulfide, sulphate and thiosulphate concentration profiles were obtained, and current and applied potential profiles. Thus, the performance of the electrochemical reactor for different hydrodynamic conditions and applied electric potential was evaluated.