Patent ID: 7662270

Claim:
An electrochemical reaction method, comprising: passing a stream of a first fluid through at least one first electrochemical reaction compartment extending between a reaction face of a first electrode and a first side of a selectively ion-permeable separating membrane pressed against said reaction face; passing a stream of a second fluid through at least one second electrochemical reaction compartment extending between a reaction face of a second electrode and a second side of said selectively ion-permeable separating membrane pressed against said reaction face, said second side being opposite from said first side, wherein at least one of said first electrochemical reaction compartment and said second electrochemical reaction compartment is supplied with said stream of a first fluid or said stream of a second fluid, the stream further comprising at least one liquid phase, said first and second electrodes are each in the form of a plate made of an electrically conductive material selected from the group consisting of vitreous carbon, metallic materials, and metallised insulating synthetic materials metallised by gold, said first and second electrodes are connected to an electrical power supply creating an electrical field between said first and second electrodes, and at least one of said first electrochemical reaction compartment and said second electrochemical reaction compartment is a microchanneled compartment comprising a plurality of microchannels formed by grooves hollowed into said reaction face of said at least one of said first electrochemical reaction compartment and said second electrochemical reaction compartment, said grooves extending parallel to said reaction face, each microchannel being formed and delimited by a groove and by said selectively ion-permeable separating membrane pressed against said reaction face and said groove; and circulating said stream through said microchannels, from at least one inlet of said microchanneled compartment for supplying the first fluid or the second fluid into said at least one of said first electrochemical reaction compartment and said second electrochemical reaction compartment, to an opposite outlet of said microchanneled compartment for extracting the first fluid or the second fluid out of said at least one of said first electrochemical reaction compartment and said second electrochemical reaction compartment, wherein at least one said microchanneled compartment is used whose grooves have a cross section of at least partially curved contour with a radius of curvature greater than 30 μm and an area of between 2500 μm 2 and 20000 μm 2 .