Electrochemical behaviour of perfluoro-sulfonated ion-exchanging membrane in solutions of concentrated hydrochloric acid

This electrochemistry engineering thesis aims at determining some electrochemical characteristics of a membrane in electrolysis of concentrated hydrochloric acid. The studied membrane is a NAFION 120 perfluoro-sulphonated membrane which has been selected for its good electrochemical inertia. After a presentation of the studied membranes and a discussion of related studies, the author reports the study of the membrane equilibrium with the solution: the concentration of the different membrane species is determined with respect to the concentration of the external solution. Then, he addresses of problem of water transport by separately studying the osmosis and electro-osmosis. This also allows the membrane selectivity to be determined. The next part addresses the study of the tension which appears on both sides of the membrane when it separates two solutions of different electrochemical potentials. The author finally attempts to show how results can be used to define a hydrochloric acid electrolysis cell and its operating conditions.