Patent ID: 8039161

Claim:
A metal halogen electrochemical system, comprising: (A) a pressure containment vessel that contains: (a) a stack of cells, wherein each cell comprises: at least one positive electrode; at least one negative electrode; and a reaction zone between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and (b) an electrolyte mixture comprising (i) at least one aqueous electrolyte comprising a metal and a halogen and (ii) a pressurized halogen reactant; (c) a stack of cell frames supporting the stack of cells; (d) a feed manifold opening and a return manifold opening in each cell frame in the stack of cell frames; (e) a feed manifold formed by aligned feed manifold openings in the stack of cell frames; (f) a return manifold formed by aligned return manifold openings in the stack of cell frames; (g) a plurality of distribution channels located in each cell frame, wherein the distribution channels are configured to introduce the electrolyte mixture from the feed manifold to the reaction zone of each cell, and from the reaction zone to the return manifold; and wherein an inlet of the electrolyte mixture to the reaction zone and an outlet of the electrolyte mixture from the reaction zone are each located at or above the bottom of the positive electrode within the reaction zone; and the stack of cell comprises a vertical stack of horizontally positioned cells; and (B) a circulation pump that is configured to convey a flow of the electrolyte mixture through the reaction zone so that the halogen reactant is reduced at the positive electrode to form a halogen ion rich electrolyte mixture, which passes by the negative electrode.