High electric field electrolysis cell

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/547,531, filed Jul. 31, 2006, which is a national stage filing under U.S.C. 371 of International Application No. PCT/US03/06601, filed Mar. 4, 2003, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

This invention relates to a device and method for electrolyzing water, and more particularly to a High Electric Field Electrolysis (HEFE) cell. In addition, this invention also relates to a device and method for generating electricity using Free Radical Solution water produced by HEFE cells.

Electrolysis of water is the technical name for using electricity to split water into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen. The splitting of water is accomplished by passing an electric current through water. The electricity enters the water at the cathode, a negatively charged terminal, passes through the water and exists via the anode, the positively charged terminal. The hydrogen is collected at the cathode and the oxygen is collected at the anode. In an electrolytic cell, the anode is the positive electrode and the cathode the negative (opposite is true for the galvanic cells). The current on the anode is considered a positive current, and that on the cathode is considered negative according to international convention. However, in Electro-analytic chemistry the anodic current is often considered negative, while the cathode current positive.

Electrolysis produces very pure hydrogen for use in the electronics, pharmaceutical and food industries by oxidizing water at the anode according to the following relationship

2H₂O=>O₂+4H⁺+4e⁻

And reducing water at the cathode according to the following relationship

4H₂O+4e⁻=>2H₂+40H⁻.

Hence, decomposition of water is a redox process, that is, oxidation reaction occurs at one electrode and reduction reaction at the other.

There are several different types of electrolysis cells in use today that may be used to electrolyze water, including for example Mercury cells, Diaphragm cells, and Membrane cells. In a membrane cell electrolysis, an ion-exchange membrane separates the anode and the cathode compartments. An ion is an electrically charged chemical particle (atoms, molecules or molecule fragment); negatively charged ions are known as “anions” and those with positive charge “cations”. The ion exchange membrane is generally a bi-layer membrane placed between the anode and the cathode. It is a plastic sheet formed from ion-exchange resin. An ion-exchange resin is a polymeric resin that contains electrically charged fragments (“fixed ions”) permanently attached to the polymer backbone, electrical neutrality is achieved by attached mobile “counter-ions” in the solution phase the resin is immersed into. Therefore, the utility of such membranes is based on their property that they are permeable preferentially only to either positive ions (cation-exchange membrane) or to negative ions (anion-exchange membrane). A practical use of such resin is the removal of unwanted ions from a solution by replacing them with other ions. For example, a cation exchange resin containing fixed negative charges with attached mobile sodium ions can be used to remove “hardness” from water if the calcium and magnesium ions are more strongly attracted to the resin and therefore will replace the sodium ions. Eventually all the sodium ions will go into solution and the ion-exchange process terminates. The resin can be regenerated by soaking in a high concentration sodium salt solution. Such process can also be used to remove unwanted ions from polluted water streams.

All prior art electrolysis cells have insufficiently sized cylindrical ion exchange membranes with improper electrode positioning. The sizes of the cells are not adequate for increased production of electrolyzed water. In addition, due to their unique physical characteristics, it is difficult to control water flow around ion exchange membranes and electrodes of prior art electrolysis cells. Furthermore, drain water generated at cation (+) side is in general equal to or at least quarter as much as the ozone water generated at the anion (−) side. The prior art electrolysis cells also produce unwanted ozone gas.

The present invention seeks to provide a High Electric Field Electrolysis cell for electrolyzing water to transform it into Free Radical Solution (FRS) water for cleaning, deodorizing, and sterilizing.