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Combined direct and indirect electroxidation of urea containing water

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Abstract

The direct oxidation of urea at high electrode potentials over platinized titanium electrodes in sulphate media generates a high amount of nitrates, representing an environmental problem. Coupling direct and indirect oxidation (using chloride salt), the total amount of generated nitrates can be lowered due to competition between anodic generation of chlorine and nitrates. A qualitative description of the influence of applied current density (ranging from 0.5 to 30 A m−2) and the nitrogen-to-chlorine ratio N/Cl (ranging from 0.5 to 3 by weight) on the distribution of urea electroxidation by-products was obtained. In a highly acidic environment, a decrease in nitrate concentration was observed when operating at relatively high current densities, which suggests the occurrence of a complex heterogeneous reaction involving nitrates and yielding mainly molecular nitrogen.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge fruitful discussions with Dr. Rodrigo Henriquez from the Chemistry Department of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile, as well as the financial support of Regione Piemonte, Italy (Project: “Monitoraggio e rigenerazione dell’acqua nelle missioni spaziali”, 2004 N°182/2006) and Fondecyt N°11070219 (2007) Republic of Chile.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Avda. Brasil 2147, Valparaiso, Chile

    Carlos Carlesi Jara

  2. Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Turin, Italy

    Simona Di Giulio, Debora Fino & Paolo Spinelli

Authors
  1. Carlos Carlesi Jara
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  2. Simona Di Giulio
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  3. Debora Fino
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  4. Paolo Spinelli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Debora Fino.

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Carlesi Jara, C., Di Giulio, S., Fino, D. et al. Combined direct and indirect electroxidation of urea containing water. J Appl Electrochem 38, 915–922 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-008-9496-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-008-9496-4

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