GB190101783A - Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus for Electrolysing Alkaline Chloride with Mercury Cathodes - Google Patents

Abstract

1783. La Cour, P. Jan. 25. Alkaline hydrates.-Relates to the decomposition of amalgams of alkaline metals obtained by the electrolysis of alkaline chlorides in the presence of a mercury cathode, the decomposition being effected by means of a lye. Fig. 1 shows a vertical section of apparatus for carrying the invention into effect. It consists of a vessel of enamelled iron or other suitable material divided into eight cells by partitions s which do not quite reach to the bottom of the vessel. Along the bottom of the vessel is a layer h of mercury which is kept in constant circulation by a pump x or by other means. The cells 1, 2, 3, 4 contain anodes and alkaline chlorides, and in them the production of the amalgam takes place. The cells a, b, c, d contain lye, and in them the decomposition of the amalgam takes place. One of the principal features of the invention is the provision, in the cells a, b, c, d, of a sheet e of wire gauze immediately above the amalgam. This gauze becomes coated with bubbles caused by the generation of hydrogen in the cells, and serves to maintain a difference of density between the lye beneath it and that above it. The lye is run off from beneath the gauze, and, when it has acquired a sufficient density, it flows away automatically against the pressure of a small column of mercury, and fresh lye quietly and regularly sinks through the gauze to supply the place of that withdrawn.