Proceeding of the Fourth Conference on Carbon : Pergamon Press, 1960. pp. XII + 778; illustrated with line drawings, and with black-and-white and colour photoreproductions. £7. 10. 0.
✍ Scribed by T.P. Hoar
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1961
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 142 KB
- Volume
- 4
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0013-4686
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Trns book, written by ten authors with acknowledgements to many others, is a record of a remarkable co-operative effort in research, design and plant operation.
Starting from the physico-chemical principles of electrodialysis and the proposal in 1940 by Meyer and Strauss of the multicompartment cell, the authors and their colleagues produced and operated the world's first commercial scale electrodialysis plant for the purification of brackish water, in less than 6 years.
The tlrst chapter is a lucid account of the general principles of the electrodialysis process, and the second discusses in detail the physical chemistry of ion-selective membranes-the development of which was essential to the realization of the multicompartment process. These two long chapters (131 pp.) can be read with profit by any electrochemist or electrochemical engineer. There follow three chapters on the preparation and characterization of suitable ion-selective membranes, with special reference to those based on parchment as developed for the South African project. The last three chapters (for which the editor himself is largely responsible) describe the development, design, commissioning and operation of a plant capable of treating 100,000 gallons of water per hour. The description of some of the fundamental and engineering difficulties-such as concentration polarization, hydraulic and electrical leakage, scale formation-and of how they have been overcome, is fascinating reading.
Throughout the latter part of the book, the economic aspects of the South African scheme are kept well to the fore, and a very attractive feature throughout is the way in which the complex interlocking of physico-chemical principles, engineering design and ultimate cost is brought out.
The book is very well produced, with clear tables and diagrams, and is printed and bound impeccably. Both as a physico-chemical monograph and as an account of an imaginative venture starting from pure science and leading to a large-scale plant, the first of its kind, it is good reading and good value.
T. P. HOAR