Date of Graduation

5-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Chemical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Greenlee, Lauren

Abstract

This study analyzes the current transients observed during the electrochemical formation of struvite from a solution of ammonium phosphate using a pure magnesium and magnesium alloy electrode. Through converting the chronoamperometric data to chronocoulometric data and fitting the data to various models, the driving mechanisms for struvite nucleation were elucidated. While the pure magnesium anode is controlled by only instantaneous nucleation at the electrode, the AZ31 alloy is nucleation controlled at short times and Cottrell diffusion controlled at long times.

Keywords

struvite; electrochemical nucleation and growth; anodic deposits; magnesium anode

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