Lithium is commercially produced by the electrolysis of lithium chloride. This process is expensive due to the high energy consumption of the electrolysis process. A noticeable part of the energy lost in this electrochemical cell is caused by back reactions, essentially between chlorine bubbles produced at the anode and liquid lithium produced at the cathode. The diaphragm has two opposite effects on the cell energy consumption: it increases the current efficiency through its preventive effect on back reactions; however, it increases the energy consumption of the cell by introducing extra ohmic overpotential. Furthermore, in a lithium electrolysis cell, the diaphragm characteristics significantly influence the mass transfer, electric and velocity fields.

A 2D axisymmetric electrochemical model of a lithium production cell is solved using a finite element method and used to minimize the cell energy consumption by optimizing the diaphragm characteristics and its position in the cell. The model is considering the coupled effect of momentum, electric, kinetic and mass transfer phenomena. The diaphragm separates the cell in two regions: 1- a turbulent region, between the anode and the diaphragm, and 2- a laminar region between the diaphragm and the cathode. The k-ε model is used to solve the turbulent flow resulting from bubbles generation at the anode. The bubbles cause an ohmic overpotential and hyperpolarization, considered through the resistive layer and bubble coverage at the surface of the anode. Furthermore, the effects of the diaphragm length, position and porosity on the electric field are simulated. In fact, the diaphragm position and length influence the current distribution at the surface of electrodes and the velocity distribution in the cell all of which influence ohmic and kinetic overpotentials.

The experimental cell, simulated as a base case on which the model has been validated, contains a dense alumina diaphragm. The results show that up to 40% energy is saved when running a lithium electrolysis cell with a smaller porous diaphragm located as far as possible from the anode. Moreover, the diaphragm deteriorates the current density distribution along the electrodes with a detrimental effect to the integrity of the electrodes. The maximum current density, found at the bottom corner of anode, is higher when the diaphragm is longer and when it is closer to the anode.

Finally, but not least, the results of this research are not only useful for improving the design of lithium production cells. They also could be extended and applied to the study of other molten salts electrochemical cells equipped with diaphragm.