Optimizing Electrode Surface Area by COMSOL Multiphysics®

B K SRIHARI[1], Dr K Nagarajan[1], Dr B Prabhakar Reddy[1], P VENKATESH[1]
[1]Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India
Published in 2013

In the design of electrorefiner, Working electrode and Counter electrode surface areas are very important. The main aim of this study is to understand the effect of the ratio of Anode to cathode Surface areas in an electrorefining cell. Application of this model to design electrorefiner for metallic spent nuclear fuel is discussed with respect to Uranium recovery. Shaping of real anode surface area is a major issue to be resolved for particularly modeling molten salt electrorefining. Using Comsol Multiphysics®, we calculated deposition thickness with varying anode surface area. It was observed that increasing the ratio of Anode Surface Area to the Cathode Surface Area, increases the thickness of deposition that means that the rate of deposition increases.