Electrodeposition of Metals in Fluidized Bed Electrodes Part I. Mathematical Model

A mathematical model is presented to describe the behavior of fluidized bed cathodes when employed in the electrodeposition of metals from solution. Principal results are the effect of electrode and electrolyte resistivity on cell voltage, power consumption, operability, and bed effectiveness. The model applies to a multicomponent electrolyte and allows for the presence of oxi-d izin.g agents in the electrolyte. Computed results also include current effi-cleneles. Since their discovery approximately twelve years ago (1), fluidized bed electrodes have been considered for a var iety of applications including electrochemical synthesis of organic chemicals (2) as fuel cell com-ponents (3) and for the electrodeposit ion of metals from aqueous solutions (4-15). The interest in metal electrodeposition arises from possible use of the fluid