Verification of chlorine production through seawater electrolysis using ion-exchange membrane electrolytic bath

Abstract

ObjectiveTo prevent the marine biofouling adhesion and corrosion of ship hulls and pipes, a system is designed which produces chlorine through seawater electrolysis using an ion-exchange membrane electrolytic bath. Thereby, the law and efficency of the electrolytic bath under different conditions is studied. MethodsFirst, the effects of brine temperature, brine concentration, current density and time of brine resided in the bath on the efficiency of the electrolysis process are investigated. Minitab software is then used to optimize the parameters of the electrolysis process using the specific energy consumption rate as the evaluation index. Finally, the seawater pretreatment process and electrolysis process are verified on site under real sea conditions. ResultsThe current density and residence time of the electrolysis parameters were reasonably controlled at 3 000 A/m2 and 46 s respectively，in this case, the current efficiency was higher than 80%, the cell voltage was lower than 6 V, and the surfaces of the anodes, cathodes and ion-exchange membranes after electrolysis were clean. ConclusionThe practical tests show that this system can produce chlorine for anti-fouling.

Keywords

• seawater electrolysis
• chlorine production
• anti-fouling
• ion-exchange membrane electrolytic bath
• current efficiency
• seawater pretreatment