A Continuous Operation for Electroreduction of Oxalic Acid to Glyoxylic Acid

A simulative-continuous-operation approach was proposed to study the continuous operation for electroreduction of oxalic acid to gloxylic acid using a packed bed reactor and a parallel reactor with cooled cathode in order to solve the low productivity problem in current state by using traditional reactor. The effects of the concentration of oxalic acid and temperature on this process were also studied. Results showed that,after 30min of the reaction(residence time), the mass fraction of the produced glyoxylic acid in the catholic solution could reach 3.76% and 3.66% with respect to a saturated oxalic acid method and a step-temperature decreasing method. From this study, we conclude that it is feasible to produce glyoxylic acid through the three-dimensional electrode reactor under a continuous operation.