disks of about 1 mm thickness which were housed on scaffolds in the center of the cells as the scaffold and membrane physically separate the anode and cathode compartments there was a separate reservoir and temperature controlled hotplate for the anolyte and catholyte this allowed the chemistry and conditions of each electrolyte to be optimized for the respective electrode reactions a multiple head parasitic pump was used to pump both electrolytes into the electrolysis cell and depending on the temperature of the electrolytes the tubing between the cell pump and reservoir was insulated the anolyte which contains the sodium salts of the carboxylic acids is made by dissolving at least 10 by weight of both salts into a polar organic solvent this was conducted using two methods for the first method the sodium salts were prepared directly in the polar organic solvent by the addition of the carboxylic acids and naoh to ensure the complete de protonation of the acid the cell was operated at a ph between 8 and 12 indicative of excess naoh the second method consisted of preparing the sodium salts in separate solutions following conventional saponification reactions and then dissolving the prepared salt into a polar organic solvent for this method a general saponification procedure was used during which the sodium carboxylates form as the carboxylic acid is neutralized in this case the carboxylic acids were converted to the sodium salts separately and then added to the polar solvent the catholyte can be.