and can be routed conventionally to a treatment or disposal tank or the like with reference to fig1 shown is a tubular membrane electrode cell according to the present invention except as otherwise noted herein membrane electrode cell 80 may generally have components as described in u s pat no 5 591 316 issued jan 7 1997 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety membrane electrode cell 80 generally includes a membrane shell including a neck 81 having attached thereto an electrolyte exit tube 82 neck 81 is glued into collar 83 it will be understood in this regard that neck 81 and collar 83 may also be provided as a single integral piece cell 80 also includes a cap 84 at the bottom end of the cell 80 and a membrane guard 85 fashioned in such a manner that its inside diameter fits snugly over collar 83 and cap 84 with guard 85 attached to collar and cap by epoxy or other suitable adhesives or by welding for example the membrane shell also includes a membrane 86 e g an ion exchange membrane encased within cloth layers 87 a and 87 b and an inner porous guard tube 88 adjacent thereto membrane 86 and its adjacent cloth layers 87 a and 87 b and inner porous.