Patent ID: 8333881
Filing Date: 2012-12-18
Classification: C02F,C25B,C25C,D06B,D06P,D21C

Abstract:
1. An electrochemical reactor comprising: at least one liquid compartment, each having side walls, a top and a bottom, and an interior volume of said at least one compartment defining an inlet region and an outlet region; a multitude of freely suspended conductive granules enclosed within said at least one liquid compartment, and at least one pump unit for pumping liquids with an upstream flow, wherein at least one of the side walls of the compartment is an electrode and an opposite side wall is formed by a separator element, wherein there is provided a bottom inlet and a top outlet of the compartment for a liquid catholyte or a liquid anolyte, wherein the inlet region as well as the outlet region of the at least one compartment are provided with an upper grid and a lower grid, the width of each grid's mesh and the positioning of each grid is chosen such as to allow the liquid catholyte or the liquid anolyte to pass through from bottom to top but to prevent the granules from passing through the grids to leave the compartment, wherein an upstream flow of the liquid catholyte or of the liquid anolyte in operation causes the multitude of granules in a compartment to be dragged against the upper grid while the lower grid is substantially not in contact with the granules, thereby forming a dragged bed, wherein the granules have a size distribution full width at half height which is in the range of 50-100 micrometer, wherein there are no granules below or equal 50 micrometer in size, wherein the granules have a sphericity in the range of 0.6-0.8, wherein the upper and the lower grid both have a mesh width in the range of 50-150 micrometer, and wherein the dragged bed has a porosity in the range of 0.5-0.6.