Advantages of Titanium Anodes over Graphite Electrodes

MMO-coated titanium anodes are a type of DSA anode, which are coated with mixed metal oxides such as ruthenium-iridium and iridium-tantalum on a titanium substrate. MMO-coated titanium anodes were originally developed for the production of chlorine by seawater electrolysis and have been used in cathodic protection (CP) applications since the 1980s. Before that, the common anode material was graphite - graphite is the raw material for pencil cores, which you must recognize. DINOR introduces you to the advantages of titanium anodes over traditional graphite electrodes.

1, Titanium anode can overcome the dissolution problem of graphite anode and lead anode, avoiding the pollution of electrolyte and cathode products, thus improving the purity of metal products.

2, Titanium anode has long working life, in the diaphragm method of chlor-alkali industry, the metal anode is resistant to the corrosion of chlorine and alkali, and the anode life is more than 6 years, while the graphite anode is only 8 months.

3, Titanium anode can avoid the short circuit problem after the deformation of lead anode, so it can improve the current efficiency.

4, Titanium anode can improve the current density. In the production of chlor-alkali by diaphragm method, the working current density of graphite anode is 8A/dm2, while titanium anode can increase exponentially to 17A/dm2, so that the output can be increased by 1 times under the same conditions of electrolysis plant and electrolysis tank, which improves the production capacity of single tank and effectively improves the labor productivity.

5. High temperature and high current density operation of chlorate electrolyzer is possible due to the use of metal anodes. The use of metal anodes improves the structure of the electrolyzer, reduces electrical energy consumption, and speeds up the chemical reaction of hypochlorite with chlorate, thus improving production performance.

6. With the adoption of DSA technology, the operating conditions of the salt electrolyzer have been improved and energy consumption has been reduced.

The development of the titanium anode has brought great economic benefits to the chlor-alkali industry, and therefore it was soon used all over the world. The production capacity of chlor-alkali is about 41 million tons/year worldwide, and the use of titanium anode is not less than 70%, which is regarded as a major technological revolution in chlor-alkali industry.

7, The size of anode is stable, and the distance between electrodes does not change during the electrolysis process, which can ensure the electrolysis operation under the condition of stable tank voltage.

8, The switch is easy to make and can be made with high precision. Titanium anode is light in weight, which can reduce labor intensity. And titanium metal can be used repeatedly.

9, Strong corrosion resistance, can work in many corrosive and special requirements of electrolytic media.

10, Low working voltage, so the electrical energy consumption is small, can save power consumption, DC power consumption can be reduced by 10% to 20%. In the 1960s, the annual electricity consumption of salt electrolysis industry all over the world was about 150 billion kilowatt hours, after using metal anode, it can save electricity about 300 million kilowatt hours per year.

11, The emergence of metal anodes, using the latest ion membrane electrolysis technology that has recently emerged in the chlor-alkali industry has been designed and industrialized.

12, After using titanium anode in chlor-alkali production, the quality of product is high, the purity of chlorine gas is high, no CO2, and the concentration of alkali is high, which can save steam for heating and energy consumption.  

Mixing two or more different oxides can affect the electrocatalytic performance of the oxides by changing the microstructure, surface composition and morphology of the electrocatalyst components.

DINOR sells MMO coated titanium anodes and we can customize oxide coating materials for different solutions and environments for different uses. If you need to know more, please contact our experts.