Aluminum-air power cell: the M3-3 experiment

Technical Report · Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5869284

Maimoni, A; Muelder, S A

The M3-3 experiment was a test of the M3 cell coupled to a crystallizer and hydrocyclone for separation of coarse solids before return of electrolyte to the cell. It was essentially a repeat of the M3-2 experiment, but with increased emphasis to understand the sources of experimental error and the evolution of the particle size distributions during the course of the experiment. A new hydrocyclone, scaled to operation with 1 to 5 cells, was tested in conjunction with peristaltic pumps. The test ran at 14 A for 101 min, followed by 122 A for 269 min at 60/sup 0/C. The main operational problem was failure of the rubber tubing in the peristaltic pump feeding the hydrocyclone. Primary results include reasonable agreement in the material balances and with the calculated crystallization rates, the 50% cut point of the new hydrocyclone at about 8 ..mu..m, and the aluminate concentration decreased from 2.4M to 1.4M in 21 h at 60/sup 0/C in a subsequent batch crystallization experiment. The particle size distributions do not change significantly on aging de-ionized water. It is recommended that electrolyte conductivity should not be used as the only measure of aluminate concentration. More care is required to obtain meaningful samples of suspension from crystallizer vessels. Insufficient stirring in the vessels led to settling of the solids and obtaining non-representative samples.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5869284
• Report Number(s): UCID-20307; ON: DE85008878
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
ALUMINIUM-AIR BATTERIES
CRYSTALLIZATION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
DATA ANALYSIS
ELECTROLYTES
MASS BALANCE
MATERIAL BALANCE
PARTICLE SIZE
PUMPS
SAMPLING
ELECTRIC BATTERIES
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
METAL-GAS BATTERIES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
SIZE
250903* - Energy Storage- Batteries- Materials
Components
& Auxiliaries