Experimental Investigation of Oxyhydrogen Gas Production for Alkaline Water Electrolyzer using Stainless Steel Perforated Plate Type Electrodes

The present work experimentally investigated the Oxy-Hydrogen (HHO) electrolyzer using perforated Stainless Steel (SS) plates electrodes. Several experimental runs are made to find out the optimum conditions for HHO gas generation based on the applied current, voltage and electrolyte concentration rate. Electric current and rate of HHO produced are measured with different Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) concentrations to find out the optimal concentration ratio versus rate of HHO volume production. The experimental set up is installed in the Solar Energy Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt. The system consists of several electrolysis cells, each with a different number of electrodes and neutral plates placed between them to achieve maximum gas generation rate. Both neutral plates and electrodes were prepared from SS 316L sheet with a thickness of 2 mm. Using a laser cutting machine, a perforated shape was created. Different KOH concentrations, ranging from 5 to 40 wt%, were used in all studied cells. Consequences prove that the production rate of HHO gas has increased significantly by increasing electrolyte concentration, reaching the optimum value at 30 wt% of potassium hydroxide concentration. Moreover, the generation rate of HHO gas using perforated plates is higher than that of solid plates and it was increased as the number of cells and number of neutral plates increased.