Minimização do efeito da incrustação catódica de uma célula eletroquímica para eletroflotação de água produzidas na indústria petroquímica.

Abstract

The development of alternative technologies used in the treatment of effluents of the petroleum industry has advanced in recent decades through programs of research and development of new physical-chemical processes. Stands out among them the electrochemical processes such as an example the electroflotation. However, one problem still unsolved is constantly observed is the cathodic incrustation. This problem can increase the energy costs of operation and maintenance of the process. The aim of this study was to minimize the incrustation of a cathodic electrochemical cell used for electroflotation of water produced from the oil industry with the use of ultrasonic transducers operating at a frequency of 24 kHz. It was determined the optimal cycle of operation of these transducers during the electrochemical production of and . Its efficiency was evaluated by determining the combined mass transfer coefficient ( ̅̅̅ ̅). Also the studied of the spatial distribution of the mechanical energy generated by the transducers was studied by determining the average coefficient of mass transfer ( ̅̅̅̅), using a set of eleven microelectrodes of nickel for different heights between them and the cell electrodes. The process efficiency was evaluated by determining the water hardness and incrustation indices from synthetic solution of composition similar to sea water. Finally we analyzed the morphology of cathodic incrustation and identification of its elements from the technique of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. It can be concluded that the use of these devices can significantly reduce the problem of cathodic incrustation. It was observed that some aspects of the material quality, its geometry and assembly design of the transducers used, must be improved to obtain a better performance.