100 Jahre technische Alkalichlorid-Elektrolyse - Technologiewandel unter Umweltaspekten

A century of industrial alkali chloride electrolysis – Technological transformation from an environmental viewpoint. Since the beginning of industrial chemical production, caustic soda and chlorine have represented important basic products in the chemical industry. For 100 years electrochemical processes have been almost exclusively used in the production of these two linked products. The rapid spread and technical development of the processes have been marked by continuous improvement of the individual process steps under the constraints of economic and environmental requirements. The safety and economy of the processes have been improved decisively by a multitude of technical innovations. This is demonstrated most clearly by the reduction in energy consumption. The environmental pollution has been reduced considerably by specific measures. With the newly developed membrane method a process is available today which combines the advantages of the two classical process variations – low power consumption and high product purity – with an exemplary environmental compatibility.