Mass transfer phenomenon in baffled reactor using electro-peroxone process: Effects of electrode arrangement and flow rate

In this study, numerical simulation of hydrodynamic and dye concentration changes using a novel electro-peroxone process was performed using a new baffled reactor. The effects of three different electrode arrangements and three flow rates were investigated to optimize dye removal efficiency and mass transfer rate; and also to evaluate a fundamental relationship between the mass transfer coefficients and the reactor's characteristics. Based on the results, the electrodes' arrangement had a significant effect on the fluid's maximum velocity and increased it at the electrode surface by more than 50%. It was also observed that changing the electrodes' number and position from the first to the third arrangement (increasing the number of the electrodes from 7 to 12) improved the average velocity of the wastewater closed to the electrodes and increased the dye removal efficiency. Increasing the wastewater inlet flow rate from 6 to 16 L/hr indicated an improvement in the maximum wastewater velocity at the electrode surface, the average velocity, and dye removal efficiency. Finally, the relationship between three dimensionless numbers (sh=0.7295×Re1.168Sc0.33) with Re in the range of 40 ≤ Re ≤ 127 was obtained.