Electrolytic oxidation in a cell having a separator support

Claim 1

An improved method of operating an electrolytic cell wherein there is: an oxidizable material in aqueous dispersion is fed to an anolyte compartment in which there is an electrically charged oxidizing anode producing one product of the electrolysis plus positively charged cations in the anolyte; a reducible catholyte is maintained in a catholyte compartment in which there is a catalytically active oxygen gas-bearing depolarized reducing cathode that is charged electrically at a lower electric potential than that of the anode producing negatively charged anions in the catholyte for another product of the electrolysis; and an electrically conductive separator element separating anolyte from catholyte is spaced between the anode and the depolarized cathode and thereby functions to pass cations from the anolyte to the catholyte wherein said cations combine with said anions to produce said catholyte product; while an appropriate direct current electrical potential is imposed between and across said anode and said cathode so that the anode is electrically more positive than the cathode thereby causing and maintaining the electrolysis of the electrolytic reactions in said anolyte and said catholyte; wherein the improvement comprises constructing said separator element from materials whereby it is less catalytically active than the cathode and; electrically connecting said separator element and said depolarizing cathode so as to maintain them during electrolysis at about the same electrical potential to render said separator element at least substantially non-bipolarizable.