Determination of the spatial distribution of the turbulent intensity and velocity field in an electrochemical reactor by CFD

CFD simulations of a rotating reactor used to remove hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) from industrial wastewaters are presented in this work. The reaction time dependence on the angular speed was experimentally demonstrated and these results were examined using the flow velocity and turbulence intensity fields obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. It was found out that the flow velocity field and turbulence intensity are not homogeneous inside the reactor. Moreover, the increase in the electrodes rotational speed has no important effect in the turbulence intensity and velocity field inside the ring electrodes zone, which helps explaining why the reaction time is not decreased in the same proportion of angular speed increment. The study provides reference aids for optimization of impeller design and operation parameters.