Experimental Investigation of a Porous Carbon Electrode for the Removal of Mercury from Contaminated Brine

Abstract

A flow‐through porous electrode, made of reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC), has been designed to remove mercury from contaminated brine solutions. Experiments with a bench‐scale reactor show that the mercury concentration of contaminated brine solutions can be reduced by as much as a factor of five thousand during a single pass through the electrode. The process is mass‐transfer limited, and the results of the experiments are used to develop a general correlation for the dependence of the mass‐transfer coefficient on the flow rate of electrolyte through RVC. In addition, the effect of counterelectrode placement on the cell resistance is examined, and the experimental data are compared to predictions from a mathematical model of the system. The model agrees favorably with the experimental results, and the benefits of upstream counterelectrode placement, indicated by the model, are verified.