OPERATING CONDITIONS EFFECTS OF AN ELECTRODIALYSIS MODULE ON HYDROCHLORIC ACID AND SODIUM HYDROXIDE FORMATION

Sodium hydroxide is produced mainly by the electrolysis of an aqueous solution of sodium chloride using mercury, diaphragm and membrane technologies. The membrane cell gained greater importance in recent years due to its environmental advantages and lower energy consumption. In this work, electrodialysis equipment has been built on a laboratory scale, using cation exchange membrane and anion exchange membrane, the effect of the operating conditions of the electrodialysis module on the concentration of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide has been studied. The experimental results show that 15 volts are the most suitable operating condition, initial acid and base concentration of 0.05N and sodium chloride concentration of 50 g/L. reaching a hydrochloric acid concentration of 0.22N and 0.25N of sodium hydroxide, respectively, during 210 minutes of operation of the electrodialysis module. The energy consumption was 14.9kWh/Kg of sodium hydroxide and the current efficiency of 53.5%. The process offers the advantage of using clean technology compared to traditional processes for acid and base production.