ESSEE 5

5th EUROPEAN SUMMER SCHOOL ON ELECTROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Main Topic

The need for electrochemical engineering arises in society because of technological applications that involve electrochemical phenomena such as batteries and fuel cells, synthesis of chemicals, electrowinning and refining of metals, surface modification by electrodeposition and etching, separations, corrosion, sensors, to mention a few. Each of these applications involves components (electrodes, power supplies etc.) that are tuned in response to prevailing economic variables (such as cost of investment, power, raw materials, product quality) by skilful manipulation of engineering design variables (such as cell materials, cell reactions, current, electrode area, cell voltage, conversion, product quality). While each of these processes use cells designed for a specific purpose, they are all bound together by fundamental principles that govern them. Known collectively as the principles of electrochemical engineering, these concepts include transport processes, current and potential distribution phenomena, thermodynamics, kinetics, scale up, sensing control, and optimization. The impact on industry of electrochemical technology has been impressive. Beneficial cross fertilization of ideas has occurred recently at an explosive rate. For example, ion exchange membranes, originally developed for fuel cells in space rockets, have revolutionized chlor-alkali production. These types of membranes have been readapted for use in redesign fuel cells for terrestrial applications. The introduction of new materials in electrolytic cells has let to evolution of wholly new cells and systems. Thus, electrochemical engineering is certainly a discipline of its own rights which on the basis of the fundamentals laws of electrochemistry deals with electrochemical systems and processes according to scientific principles finding its way between chemical engineering and electrochemistry. Its aim is to design and carry out electrochemical processes (comprising all stages) including the non-electrochemical process steps. The scope of electrochemical engineering is determined by the diversity of industrial electrochemical processes. In this school some aspects related to these technologies are going to be discussed. 

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Electrochemical Engineering

Electrochemical industry: chloralkali plant

Grupo Especializado de Electroquímica

RSEQ