JP6755588B2 - Two-chamber electrolyzer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a two-chamber type electrolyzer capable of producing reduced electrolyzed water having a desired pH with low power consumption.

Conventionally, an electrolyzer that electrolyzes water by adding sodium chloride or potassium chloride as a supporting electrolyte in order to obtain reduced electrolyzed water or oxidized electrolyzed water has been known.
This electrolyzer includes a two-chamber type electrolyzer having an electrolytic cell consisting of an anode chamber and a cathode chamber separated by a single diaphragm, and an electrolytic cell including an intermediate chamber sandwiched between the anode chamber and the cathode chamber. There is a three-chamber type electrolyzer (for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

Patent Document 1 discloses an electrolytic device composed of an anode chamber, an intermediate chamber, and a cathode chamber, each having two inlets, and arranged symmetrically in each electrolytic cell. With such a configuration, even if the supply flow rate of raw water increases, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a stagnation region and improve the electrolysis efficiency.
On the other hand, Patent Document 2 has an intermediate chamber arranged between an anode chamber in which an anode electrode is arranged and a cathode chamber in which a cathode electrode is arranged, and an anode partition portion is an anion exchange film or a non-woven fabric. And an electrolyzer which is composed of a plastic net and in which a net, a non-woven fabric, and an anion exchange film are arranged in this order from the anode electrode side toward the intermediate chamber are disclosed. With such a configuration, water can be efficiently electrolyzed while stabilizing the current value, and the pH of the intermediate chamber liquid does not reach 7 or more, and loss of the diaphragm can be prevented.

Japanese Patent No. 5253483 Japanese Patent No. 602149

Reduced electrolyzed water (for example, alkaline water having a pH of 12 to 13) is considered to have a fatigue recovery effect and a hypertension prevention effect, and is expected to be applied to drinking water and the like.
Although the electrolyzers disclosed so far have been able to produce alkaline reduced electrolyzed water, it has been difficult to produce reduced electrolyzed water having a certain pH (for example, pH 13).
Further, since the reduced electrolyzed water is generated, the power consumption of the electrolyzer becomes large, and there is a problem that the cost becomes enormous in the case of mass production. Therefore, an electrolyzer capable of producing reduced electrolyzed water (alkaline water) having a desired pH with as little power as possible is desired.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a two-chamber type electrolyzer capable of efficiently producing reduced electrolyzed water having a desired pH (pH 12 to pH 13) with low power consumption.

The two-chamber type electrolyzer of the present invention has a cathode chamber separated from the anode chamber, is provided in the anode chamber, has at least a surface made of platinum, and has an anode electrode having a plurality of anode electrode through holes. A cathode electrode provided in the cathode chamber and having a plurality of cathode electrode through holes and a cation exchange film arranged between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode are provided, and the opening ratio of the anode electrode through holes is such that the anode electrode penetrates. It is larger than the opening ratio of the pores and is characterized by circulating water containing a supporting electrolyte in the anode chamber.
The opening ratio means the ratio of the area of the opening of the electrode through hole to the area of the front surface (back surface) of the electrode.

The two-chamber type electrolyzer of the present invention is characterized in that water is passed through the cathode chamber.

In the two-chamber type electrolyzer of the present invention, the anode electrode has at least a surface made of platinum and has a plurality of anode electrode through holes, while the cathode electrode has a plurality of cathode electrode through holes. By using an anode electrode through-hole having an opening ratio larger than that of the cathode electrode through-hole and circulating water containing a supporting electrolyte in the anode chamber, reduced electrolyzed water having a pH of 12 to 13 is generated with low power consumption. can do.

Further, in the two-chamber type electrolyzer of the present invention, water can be passed through the cathode chamber to generate reduced electrolyzed water. Therefore, it is possible to generate reduced electrolyzed water having a desired pH (pH 12 to pH 13) in a shorter time and with less power consumption than when water is circulated in the cathode chamber to generate reduced electrolyzed water.

It is a schematic diagram of the two-chamber type electrolytic apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the net-like electrode (lath type electrode) used in the two-chamber type electrolysis apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the electrode (circular porous type electrode) which has a circular through hole used in the two-chamber type electrolysis apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. (A) Electrode with a small through-hole opening ratio, (b) Electrode with a large through-hole opening ratio

The two-chamber type electrolyzer according to the present embodiment can be used, for example, as a dedicated device for generating reduced electrolyzed water that efficiently produces only reduced electrolyzed water. Hereinafter, the two-chamber type electrolyzer according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

As shown in FIG. 1, the two-chamber type electrolytic apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment has a cathode chamber 4 separated from an anode chamber 3 by an ion exchange membrane 2 (cation exchange membrane), and has an anode chamber 3 The anode electrode 5 is provided in contact with the ion exchange membrane 2, and the cathode electrode 6 is provided in the cathode chamber 4 so as to be in contact with the ion exchange membrane 2.
A DC power source 7 connected to the cathode electrode 6 is connected to the anode electrode 5.

[Anode chamber 3]
The anode chamber 3 is made of plastic and has a box shape with one side open. The anode chamber 3 has an inflow port 10 formed on the side portion and an outflow port 11 formed at a position facing the inflow port 10. A hose connected to a tank 12 provided on the outside is connected to the inflow port 10. The supporting electrolyte solution L is stored in the tank 12. A pump 13 is provided in the middle of the hose, and by moving the pump 13, the supporting electrolyte solution L in the tank 12 is sent to the anode chamber 3. On the other hand, a hose connected to the tank 12 is connected to the outlet 11. The supporting electrolyte solution L delivered to the anode chamber 3 is discharged to the tank 12 through the outlet 11. Then, the supporting electrolyte solution L discharged to the tank 12 is sent to the anode chamber 3 again.
In this way, the supporting electrolyte solution L circulates in the tank 12 and the anode chamber 3. For this supporting electrolyte, for example, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium carbonate, sodium carbonate, lithium sulfate are used.

[Cathode chamber 4]
The cathode chamber 4 is made of plastic and has a box shape with one side open. The cathode chamber 4 has a raw water inflow port 15 formed on a side surface and a reduced water outflow port 16 formed at a position facing the raw water inflow port 15. A hose is connected to the raw water inlet 15 and the reduced water outlet 16, respectively.
Raw water (tap water) is sent to the cathode chamber 4 at a predetermined flow velocity. The fed raw water is reduced by the cathode electrode 6 inside the cathode chamber 4 and discharged from the reduced water outlet 16.

[Anode electrode 5]
The anode electrode 5 is provided so as to be in contact with the ion exchange membrane 2 and is connected to the positive electrode of the DC power supply 7. The anode electrode 5 is made of metal, and platinum can be used for the anode electrode 5, for example. The surface of the anode electrode 5 may be at least made of platinum.
As the anode electrode 5, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, a rectangular and net-like electrode (lass type electrode) can be used. Since the anode electrode 5 is formed in a net shape, a plurality of rhombic anode electrode through holes 17 penetrating the front surface 5A and the back surface 5B are formed.
The anode electrode 5 is not limited to a net-like electrode (lath-shaped electrode), and may be any one in which a plurality of anode electrode through holes 17 are formed. For example, the anode electrode through holes 17 may be formed in a circular shape or a polygonal shape.

[Cathode electrode 6]
The cathode electrode 6 is provided so as to be in contact with the ion exchange membrane 2 and is connected to the negative electrode of the DC power supply 7. The cathode electrode 6 is made of metal, and for the cathode electrode 6, for example, platinum or stainless steel can be used.
As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the cathode electrode 6 has a rectangular plate shape, and a plurality of circular cathode electrode through holes 18 penetrating the front surface 6A and the back surface 6B of the cathode electrode 6 are formed. A circular porous electrode can be used. The cathode electrode through hole 18 is formed by punching. A stat screw 19 is provided at the center of the cathode electrode 6.
The cathode electrode through holes 18 are formed so as to be regularly arranged in the lateral direction X and the vertical direction Y of the cathode electrode 6. The number and size (diameter) of the cathode electrode through holes 18 can be appropriately determined, and the opening ratio can be adjusted by changing the number and size of the cathode electrode through holes 18 and the distance between the cathode electrode through holes 18. ..
Here, the opening ratio means the ratio of the area of the opening of the cathode electrode through hole 18 to the area of the front surface 6A (back surface 6B) of the cathode electrode 6.
The shape of the through silicon via 18 is not limited to a circle, but may be a polygon or an ellipse.

In the cathode electrode 6 shown in FIG. 3A, 11 through holes 18 for the cathode electrodes are formed in the vertical direction Y and 13 in the horizontal direction X. The cathode electrode through holes 18 of the cathode electrode 6 are formed in a grid shape in the horizontal direction X and the vertical direction Y. An electrode having a circular through hole is also called a circular porous electrode.
On the other hand, in the cathode electrode 6 shown in FIG. 3B, 15 (or 14) cathode electrode through holes 18 are formed in the vertical direction Y and 12 (or 11) in the horizontal direction X. The cathode electrode through holes 18 of the cathode electrode 6 shown in FIG. 3B are formed in a houndstooth pattern in the horizontal direction X and the vertical direction Y.
The number of cathode electrode through holes 18 of the cathode electrode 6 of FIG. 3 (a) is larger than the number of cathode electrode through holes 18 of the cathode electrode 6 shown in FIG. 3 (b), and the number of cathode electrodes of FIG. 3 (a) is larger. The opening ratio of 6 is smaller than the opening ratio of the cathode electrode 6 shown in FIG. 3 (b).
The electrodes shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B can also be used as the anode electrode 5.

[Ion exchange membrane 2]
The ion exchange membrane 2 is provided between the open surface of the anode chamber 3 and the open surface of the cathode chamber 4, and is provided so as to partition the anode chamber 3 and the cathode chamber 4.
For the ion exchange membrane 2, for example, a cation exchange membrane of CMF (manufactured by AGC Engineering Co., Ltd.) or Nafion 117 (manufactured by DuPont) can be used. From the viewpoint of wear resistance, the film thickness of the ion exchange membrane 2 is preferably 400 μm or more.

Next, a method of generating reduced electrolyzed water and an evaluation of the produced reduced electrolyzed water will be described using the two-chamber type electrolyzer 1 having the above configuration.
The two-chamber type electrolyzer 1 of the present embodiment has a configuration in which the supporting electrolyte solution L is circulated on the anode chamber 3 side and a configuration in which tap water is not circulated on the cathode chamber 4 side and is allowed to pass. That is, the anode chamber 3 side has a “circulation type” configuration, and the cathode chamber 4 side has a “water flow type” configuration.

The anode electrode 5 and the cathode electrode 6 are a net-like titanium platinum-plated electrode (opening ratio 62.5%) (hereinafter referred to as “PT1”) and a circular porous titanium platinum-plated electrode (opening ratio 44.6%). (Hereinafter referred to as "PT2"), circular porous titanium platinum-plated electrode (opening ratio 19.2%) (hereinafter referred to as "PT3"), circular porous stainless steel electrode (opening ratio 19.2%) ) (Hereinafter referred to as "SUS1") and a circular porous type stainless steel electrode (opening ratio 44.6%) (hereinafter referred to as "SUS2") were used. CMF or Nafion 117 was used for the ion exchange membrane 2.

An aqueous potassium carbonate solution was prepared and used as the supporting electrolyte solution L. This supporting electrolyte solution L was flowed through the anode chamber 3 at a flow velocity of 0.7 L / min, and the anode chamber 3 and the tank 12 were circulated.
On the other hand, tap water was flowed from the raw water inlet 15 to the cathode chamber 4 at a predetermined flow velocity, and the tap water discharged from the reduced water outlet 16 was taken out as reduced electrolyzed water, and the pH was measured.
Further, the current of the DC power supply 7 was set to 30 A, the voltage under a constant current was measured, and the power consumption for generating the reduced electrolyzed water was calculated.
The flow velocity for passing tap water to the cathode chamber 4 was 0.10 L / min to 4.0 L / min.

In Examples 1 to 5, PT1 or PT2 was used for the anode electrode 5, and PT3, SUS1, or SUS2 was used for the cathode electrode 6. The anode electrode 5 and the cathode electrode 6 were combined so that the aperture ratio of the anode electrode through hole 17 was larger than the aperture ratio of the cathode electrode through hole 18.
On the other hand, in Comparative Examples 1 to 9, any one of PT1, PT2, PT3, and SUS1 was used for the anode electrode 5, and any one of PT1, PT2, PT3, and SUS1 was used for the cathode electrode 6. Under the conditions of the comparative example, the anode electrode 5 and the cathode electrode 6 were combined so that the aperture ratio of the anode electrode through hole 17 was equal to or less than the aperture ratio of the cathode electrode through hole 18.

Table 1 shows the evaluation results of power consumption and pH of reduced electrolyzed water.

[PH]
When the reduced electrolyzed water was produced under the conditions of Examples 1 to 5 using the two-chamber type electrolyzer 1 according to the present embodiment, alkaline reduced electrolyzed water having a pH of 12.6 to 13.1 was obtained. ..
On the other hand, when the reduced electrolyzed water was produced under the conditions of Comparative Examples 1 to 9, alkaline reduced electrolyzed water having a pH of 10.1 to 11.8 was produced.
From these results, by combining the anode electrode 5 and the cathode electrode 6 so that the opening ratio of the anode electrode through hole 17 is larger than the opening ratio of the cathode electrode through hole 18, pH 12.6 to pH 13.1 can be reduced. It was found that electrolyzed water could be produced.
Further, it is considered that the larger the difference in the aperture ratio between the anode electrode through hole 17 and the cathode electrode through hole 18, the more the reduced electrolyzed water having a pH closer to 13 tends to be generated.

[power consumption]
It was found that when the reduced electrolyzed water was produced under the conditions of Examples 1 to 5, the electric power consumed was 200 V or less (196.8 V to 180.0 V).
On the other hand, when the reduced electrolyzed water was generated under the conditions of Comparative Examples 1 to 9, it was found that the electric power consumed was 300 V or more (303.0 V to 459.0 V). Above all, when electrodes of the same type and the same aperture ratio are used for the anode electrode 5 and the cathode electrode 6 (Comparative Examples 1 to 4), the voltage is higher and the power consumption is higher than those of the other Comparative Examples. It turned out to be.

Further, in the two-chamber type electrolyzer 1 of the present embodiment, the cathode chamber 4 is made water-permeable, and reduced electrolyzed water having a desired pH of 12 to 13 can be generated. Then, the reduced electrolyzed water can be generated in a short time and with less power consumption as compared with the case where water is circulated in the cathode chamber 4 to generate the reduced electrolyzed water.

Further, as the ion exchange membrane 2, when CMF, which is a hydrocarbon-based cation exchange membrane, is used as compared with Nafion 117, which is a fluorine-based cation exchange membrane, alkaline reduction electrolyzed water having a pH of 12 to 13 is consumed with less power consumption. Was found to be capable of producing (Examples 1 and 4).

From the above results, in the two-chamber type electrolyzer 1 of the present embodiment, the anode electrode 5 and the cathode electrode 6 are combined so that the opening ratio of the anode electrode through hole 17 is larger than the opening ratio of the cathode electrode through hole 18. It was found that by electrolyzing the raw water, reduced electrolytic water having a pH of 12 to 13 can be efficiently generated with low power consumption.

As described above, in the two-chamber electrolyzer 1 according to the present embodiment, the anode electrode 5 and the cathode electrode 6 are set so that the opening ratio of the anode electrode through hole 17 is larger than the opening ratio of the cathode electrode through hole 18. Although it has been shown that reduced electrolyzed water having a desired pH can be produced, other than this, as long as the gist of the present invention is not deviated, the configuration described in the above embodiment may be selected or appropriately changed to another configuration. It is possible to do.
For example, in the present embodiment, tap water is passed through the cathode chamber 4 side and the water discharged from the reduced water outlet 16 is obtained as reduced electrolyzed water. However, the water is circulated in the cathode chamber 4 side to reduce electrolyzed water. It can also produce water.
Further, in the present embodiment, the electrode whose surface is made of platinum or stainless steel is shown, but a metal electrode other than these can also be used.

1 2-chamber type electrolyzer 2 Ion exchange membrane (cation exchange membrane)
3 Anode chamber 4 Cathode chamber 5 Anode electrode 5A Front surface 5B Back surface 6 Cathode electrode 6A Front surface 6B Back surface 7 DC power supply 10 Inflow port 11 Outlet 12 Tank 13 Pump 15 Raw water inflow port 16 Reduced water outflow port 17 Anode electrode through hole 18 Cathode electrode through hole 19 Stud screw L Supporting electrolyte solution X Horizontal direction Y Vertical direction

Claims (2)

Have a cathode chamber which is the anode compartment and the compartment, a 2-chamber electrolysis apparatus for producing reduced electrolytic water,
A net-like anode electrode provided in the anode chamber, at least having a surface made of platinum, and having a plurality of anode electrode through holes,
A cathode electrode provided in the cathode chamber and having a plurality of through silicon via holes,
A cation exchange membrane arranged between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode is provided.
The opening ratio of the anode electrode through hole is larger than the opening ratio of the cathode electrode through hole.
Water containing a supporting electrolyte is circulated in the anode chamber.
A two-chamber type electrolyzer characterized by this. The plurality of anode electrode through holes and the plurality of cathode electrode through holes are regularly arranged.
Let water pass through the cathode chamber.
The two-chamber type electrolyzer according to claim 1.

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