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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of RENEWABLE ENERGY RESEARCH Biswajit Mandal et al., Vol.2, No.1, 2012 Effects of Geometry of Electrodes and Pulsating DC Input on Water Splitting for Production of Hydrogen Biswajit Mandal*, A. Sirkar*, Abhra Shau**, P. De**, P. Ray** *Department of Chemical Engineering, Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia - 721 657, West Bengal, India. ** Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Calcutta, 92 A.P.C. Road, Kolkata - 700 009, India. ‡ Corresponding Author; Biswajit Mandal, +913224252900, bmandal_1977@rediffmail.com, sirkar_a@hitmail.com, abhra.shau@gmail.com, parameswar_de@rediffmail.com, praycuce@rediffmail.com Received: 16.11.2011 Accepted:28.12.2011 Abstract- Electrolytic production of hydrogen from water is gradually gaining its importance among the other conventional processes of hydrogen production in the context of renewable energy source utilization and environmentally clean technology. Worldwide research is being carried out to make the process cost effective. Apart from the different material of construction of electrodes, the geometry is also playing an important role in developing an energy efficient process for electrolytic production of hydrogen. However, no information is available in the literature on this aspect. The aim of this paper is to study the effect of geometry of electrodes on energy efficiency of water electrolysis and rate of hydrogen production. The experimental results using cylindrical electrodes showed the enhancement of the power efficiency of water electrolysis and the rate of production of hydrogen by 30% and 25%, respectively compared to the data obtained using plate type electrodes. Also, the power efficiency of the water electrolyzer was found to improve by 34% using pulsating DC instead of constant DC input. Keywords- Hydrogen; power efficiency; electrode geometry; 1. Introduction Hydrogen is recognized as the environmentally benign fuel for future which can be produced from renewable sources. It is easy to transport and store, having highest gravimetric energy density of all known fuels. In any electrolytic cell, electrodes are the main physical part of the system [1]. Out of two types of electrode, active electrodes get involved in the redox reaction by accumulating or consuming materials of electrodes. Electrode made of copper is commonly used as active electrode. Inert electrodes just use its surface for neutralization of ions to take place. Platinum, carbon and stainless steel are frequently used as inert electrodes [2]. Geometry of the electrodes is also an important parameter of electrolytic cell. However, no information is available in the literature on this aspect. Since it is always recommended to have internal resistance as low as possible in order to keep energy consumption sufficiently small, the common practice is to utilize the maximum available surface of the electrodes and the minimum pitch of the electrodes [3]. In an attempt to afford high surface area of electrodes, experiments were carried out by different researchers using pulsating DC input. different flat surfaces of the plates with different widths or by using sheets or strips with larger areas. Large surface area can be achieved by use of sintered structures, finned bodies, screens, sand blistering, perforated plates or flat plates with electrochemically-roughened surfaces. The surface of the electrode remains inert so long the gas bubbles remain attached with it. The electrical resistance of the electrolytic cell increases with increase in volume fraction of gas bubbles, resulting the decrease in efficiency of water electrolysis [4]. The projected area on the faces of electrodes can be changed by changing geometry of electrodes keeping surface area same. As the production of hydrogen depends on movement of ions in the electrolytic solution, the shape of electrodes may be a parameter to improve the efficiency of electrolysis. The current intensity can be increased by increasing the applied voltage as the current intensity is directly proportional to the applied voltage for constant resistance [5]. As lowering the applied voltage reduces the overpotential thus decreasing the power efficiency, it is necessary to maximize the current intensity at minimum overpotential. In view of the stated fact, the aim of this work is to study the effect of electrode geometry on powerPDF Image | Effects of Geometry of Electrodes and Pulsating DC
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