The development of appropriate brine electrolysers for disinfection of rural water supplies

Abstract

A comparative study of electrolysers using different anodic materials for the electrolysis of brine (sodium chloride) for the production of sodium hypochlorite as a source of available chlorine for disinfection of rural water supplies has been undertaken. The electrolyser design used was tubular in form, having two chambers i.e. anode inside and cathode outside, separated by a tubular inorganic ceramic membrane. The anode was made of titanium rod coated with a thin layer of platinum and a further coat of metal oxide. The cathode was made of stainless steel wire. An assessment of these electrolysers was undertaken by studying the effects of some variable parameters i.e.current, voltage and sodium chloride concentration. The cobalt electrolyser has been shown to be superior as compared to the ruthenium dioxide and manganese dioxide electrolysers in terms of hypochlorite generation. Analysis of hydroxyl radicals was undertaken since there were claims that these are produced during brine electrolysis. Hydroxyl radical analysis was not successful, since sodium hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid interfere using the analytical method described in this study.