Electrosynthesis of Adiponitrile with a Rotating Cylindrical Electrode

Abstract

Adiponitrile (ADN) is an important chemical raw material used in the production of nylon 66 that can be synthesized from acrylonitrile (AN) through cathodic hydrodimerization. This is the first time that a rotating cylindrical electrode (RCE) has been used in the electrosynthesis of ADN. The RCE provides turbulence to promote the mass transfer of AN for ADN formation. This report studied the effects of geometric parameters, including electrode radii and length, on the selectivity, current efficiency, AN utilization, and yield. Among the selected cell geometric parameters, the cathode radius had a major effect, the electrode length had a strong effect, and the electrode spacing had a minor effect. Higher turbulence, due to a larger cathode radius, longer electrode length, and smaller electrode spacing, produced ADN more efficiently. The highest yield among the results was 0.33 g cm–2 h–1 with the highest current efficiency of 82% at a dimensionless time of 0.5 and a cathode rotation rate of 3000 rpm.

Metal–Organic Framework-Derived Electrocatalysts Competent for the Conversion of Acrylonitrile to Adiponitrile

“…However, to date, there is no study reporting the use of any MOF-based or MOF-derived material for the electrosynthesis of ADN. In fact, in most recent studies on this application, researchers mainly focused on the optimization of electrolyte compositions and configurations of the electrolytic system with the use of bare metallic Pb or Cd electrodes; ,− fundamental studies on the design and use of thin-film-modified electrodes or electrocatalysts that could facilitate this electrochemical process were not reported.…”

Efficient and selective electrosynthesis of adiponitrile by electrohydrodimerization of acrylonitrile over a bismuth nanosheet modified electrode

“…In addition, the nanoBi electrode exhibited superior performance to those of these toxic electrode materials. For example, the nanoBi electrode required a significantly lower overpotential than the rotating Pb rod 8 and Cd foil 6 to achieve similar S ADN and R ADN . These findings indicate that nanostructuring is an effective method to enhance the catalytic performance of the bismuth-modified electrode, which makes bismuth a promising alternative to the toxic electrode materials currently used in industrial ADN production.…”

“…Notably, Cd foil and rotating Pb rod electrodes required overpotentials of about 3.32 V and 2.75 V, respectively, to maintain the applied current densities of −60 mA cm −2 and −100 mA cm −2 . 6,8 In addition, EHD-AN also suffers from low product selectivity due to the diverse competing reactions, including the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), early protonation of AN •− to form propionitrile (PN), trimerization of AN to form 1,3,6-tricyanohexane, and reductive oligomerization of AN. 5,7,25 To minimize the interference from these side reactions and thus achieve satisfactory selectivity towards ADN generation, several strategies have been explored, including the utilization of quaternary alkyl ammonium salt (QAS) as the electrolyte additive and the employment of electrode materials with high HER overpotentials, as well as a surface for the adsorption of AN with an appropriate adsorption configuration.…”

Reduction of Energy Consumption in Lithium Electrolytic Cell by Improving Design and Operating Conditions

“…The electrolytic cell with rotating electrodes also presents industrial benefits, reducing the amount of energy consumed and maximizing the mass of lithium produced, mimicking a similar technology used in water electrolysis. [16][17][18][19] This is the first time such results are presented for lithium electrolysis giving detailed information on the specific fluid dynamics related to molten salt electrolysis. In the first part, our contributions on the analysis of electrochemical film resistance will be presented.…”