Transient Model of a Fluorine Electrolysis Cell

J. Vukasin [1], I. Crassous [1], B. Morel [1], J. Sanchez-Marcano [2], P. Namy [3]
[1] HRP, AREVA NC, France
[2] Institut Européen des Membranes - CNRS, France
[3] Simtec, France
Published in 2015

In the nuclear fuel cycle, fluorine is produced by the electrolysis of the molten salt KF-2HF. It is a complex process to study since hydrofluoric acid and fluorine are hazardous and highly corrosive.

A 3D-model of a lab-scale fluorine electrolysis cell has been developed to increase our understanding of this process, using the electric currents and the bubbly flow interfaces to simulate the flow resulting from the production of gaseous hydrogen and fluorine, and using the heat transfer and the transport of concentrated species interfaces, to model the heat transfer inside the cell and the consumption of the species at the electrode. The solidification of the electrolyte which occurs when the temperature and/or the HF concentration drops was modeled with the apparent heat capacity method.