Improvements in copper electrowinning at tenke fungurume mining company this paper summarizes the history of tfm developments and also presents the improvements that have been implemented in the production process since startup. The effects of operating variables including sulfur dioxide. The metallic zinc production by electrowinning required a previous process to obtain sulphuric liquors from which zinc can be electrowin. New lead anode for copper electrowinning rsr anodes. Electrowinning article about electrowinning by the free. The economic viability of this process had only recently been demonstrated at the bluebird mine arizona, with larger commercial installations at bagdad arizona and chingola zambia. Electrorefining uses a similar process to remove impurities from a metal. Electrowinning process in electrowinning, direct current is passed from an inert anode through a liquid leach solution containing the metal so that the metal is extracted as it is deposited in an electroplating process onto the cathode. Remco engineering question on electrowinning treatment.
Electrowinning is one of the oldest electrolytic processes known and was first introduced in 1807 by english chemist humphry davy. Electrorefining is a much more common process than electrowinning and such plants occur throughout the world on scales between 100,000 tonyear. A monitoring system for the copper solvent extraction electrowinning process. Operation of the electrowinning process differs depending on the elution procedure that is used. Electrowinning studies for metallic zinc production from.
Electrowinning is one of the oldest electrolytic processes known and. Diffusion layer profiles at the cathode were quantitatively measured using a new technique based on the mass transfer controlled codeposition of a tracer metal ion. Electrowinning refers to the process of using electrolysis to extract a metallic element from the compounds in its ore. May 24, 2016 electrowinning is a widely used technology in modern metal recovery, mining, refining and waste water treatment applications. A phenomenological model was developed to simulate the.
Electrowinning and refining the electrowinning of metals, or the production of metals from their ores once put in solution or liquefied, is the oldest industrial electrolytic process. Effect and interactions of commercial additives and chloride. The electrowinning of copper from acidic sulfate solution in the presence of sulfurous acid using a graphite anode was investigated. Copper electrowinning from gold plant cyanidecontaining. Jana and premchand nonferrous process division national metallurgical laboratory jamshedpur831 007 india abstract. Modern copper electrowinning circuit use permanent cathode technology with stainless steel cathode. Since electrolysis is a wellknown process, this section mainly explains the general state of. The influences of copper concentration, solution temperature, electrolysis time, current density and flow rate on copper recovery and current efficiency was studied in detail and the suitable operation parameters were chosen.
Pdf electrowinning of copper from sulfate electrolyte in. Modeling and fault detection of an industrial copper electrowinning process by susan wiebe thesis presented as a partial requirement in the master of applied science m. The electrowinning of copper ions derived from leaching, or solvent extraction is a significant contributor to the global copper commodity supply. Electrorefining process virtually all copper produced from ore receives an electrolytic treatment at some stage either via electrorefining from impure anodes or electrowinning from leach or solventextraction liquors. Results of the investigation showed that choice of cathode material was critical to the success of the process. Copper is essential to the process, and care has to be taken with the addition rate of the alloy, as well as with the copperplating rate, ifthe circuit is not to be. Electrowinning is a process in which metal ions present in an electrically. In the field of electrometallurgy, electrorefining and electrowinning different parts of the same procedure are important techniques that allow purification of nonferrous nonironbased metals to an extreme degree. Solvent extraction and electrowinning sxew is a twostage hydrometallurgical process that first extracts and upgrades copper ions from lowgrade leach solutions into a solvent containing a chemical that selectively reacts with and binds the copper in the solvent. Electrowinning of copper and similar metals youtube. Como engineers are suppliers of heavy duty 304 stainless steel, rubber lined electrowinning cells. First principle modeling was applied to the copper electrowinning tank and partial differential equation models were derived to describe the process dynamics.
From the composition of the alloy to the joining of the. The most important parameters for the electrowinning of these liquors were found to be 4. Pdf examination of copper electrowinning smoothing. Effect and interactions of commercial additives and. Despite the improvements in quality and in the understanding of the corrosion mechanisms, the anodes are still corroded by the oxygen evolved in the electrowinning process. The conceptual design of a new process able to recover 210 kg metallic znt of wo was presented. The anode produces a lower oxygen overvoltage compared to the same rolled lead calcium tin alloy anodes which do not contain cobalt. Powder metallurgy has the distinction of being at the same time one of the oldest and one of themost modern methods known for the fabrication of metal articles. Copper occurs on earth both as native copper the uncombined element, cu, and in ores copper compounds, or mixtures of compounds, from which copper metal can be extracted profitably.
The electrowinning method for treating high copper cyanide solution was investigated by thermodynamics analysis and experiment. Electrowinning of nickel at the bindura smelting and. Therefore, the process must be designed to handle a. The copper is extracted from the solvent with strong aqueous acid which then deposits pure copper onto cathodes using an. Sudburybased manufacturer and contractor enjoys nearly 50 years of success. Electrowinning can recover 90 to 95% of the available metals, but it is known to operate efficiently only at high metal concentrations. In order to achieve the most efficient, economic and servicefriendly solution, we take the entire plant into consideration when drafting the equipment. Comparative study of electrowinning of copper and cadmium. Rsr technologies has developed a new anode for copper electrowinning. Electrowinning of copper from sulfate electrolyte in presence. A possible process to produce this liquor from double leached waelz oxide was developed. The main difference between isa and kidd process is related to the bottom of cathodes. Copper electrowinning ew is an important process in connection with the solvent extraction to produce pure and marketable copper cathodes. While the process works well for metals with high electropotential, such as gold, silver, copper.
Economical and straightforward, they use electrical current to separate metals from their accompanying impurities. These are applicable to use of the recovery of precious metals. The introduction of emews vortex electrowinning technology has further pushed. The english chemist humphry davy obtained sodium metal in elemental form for the first time in 1807 by the electrolysis of molten sodium hydroxide electrorefining of copper was first demonstrated experimentally by maximilian, duke of.
High power rectifiers for the electrowinning industry the. A wide variety of copper electrowinning options are available to you, there are 424 suppliers who sells copper electrowinning on, mainly located in asia. Electrowinning copper at high current densities springerlink. Hydrometallurgical process development for the production of a zinc sulphate liquor suitable for electrowinning. Eng metallurgical engineering degree synopsis electrowinning is an attractive method to recover gold from the relatively concentrated aurodicyanide solutions produced by. Fractional factorial experimental designs are a variation of a basic factorial design in which only a subset of the runs are made to minimize the number of experiments but include all the process variables3. A low voltage direct current is applied through the solution and metal ions are reduced at the cathode and if the proper segregation is used, little or no maintenance is required between loads except for monitoring the operation.
This process consisted of an acid leaching stage followed by two purifying steps. Electrorefining produces the majority of cathode copper ca. Technical specifications electrowinning concentrating on the future, now model units ewc length mm 36 height mm 2530 width mm 1506 maximum feed rate m3hr 530 supply voltage v 3 phase output voltage v dc 010 output current a max 3500 current density am2 0 50 mass kg 2173 total sanded mass kg 7581 cathode dimensions mm. Electrowinning, morphology, additives, avrami erofeev kinetics. A study of the influence of copper on the gold electrowinning. Also attractive about the granulationleachingelectrowinning process is that it could decouple the smelting the bullion is immediately leached, silver and gold electrowinning process for gold grinding mill china. The new anode contains cobalt as an alloying element in the rolled leadcalcium tin alloy anode. Cerro verde began operations in april 1977, originally formed and operated by minero peru, as a staterun mining company.
Electrowinning is performed in cells, constructed of nonconducting plastic material. Electrowinning is performed in cells, constructed of. Volume v copper electrorefining and electrowinning. This new copper technology utilizes smelter acid to produce copper from oxidized ores and mine wastes. A powder can be precipitated at the cathode of an electrolytic cell under certain operating conditions. Lower electrolyte ph, lower cobalt chloride concentration and lower temperature resulted in reduced cathodic. Therefore, the process is typically used on dragout recovery solutions or combined with ion exchange. How hydrometallurgy and the sxew process made copper the. The zinc electrowinning process is a one electron electrode reaction.
The top countries of suppliers are china, india, from which the percentage of copper electrowinning supply is 97%, 1% respectively. Sandenbergh paper written on project work carried out in partial fulfilment of b. Agitation of the electrolyte by gas sparging was studied as a means of intensifying the electrowinning of copper. Both electrowinning and electrorefining are widely used and can produce very. Beginning in the mid 1980s a new technology, commonly known as the leachsolvent extraction electrowinning process or, sxew process, was widely adopted. Electrowinning of copper from sulfate electrolyte in presence of sulfurous acid article pdf available in hydrometallurgy 591. The electrowinning of copper from a cupric chloride solution. After 66 long years the first commercial refinery balbach and sons refining and smelting company adopted the electrowinning technology and. Role of impurities in solvent extractionelectrowinning of copper and nickel for the processing of sea nodules vinay kumar, d. Volume v copper electrorefining and electrowinning dutrizac, j. The electrowinning tankhouse was designed to produce 33,000 metric tonnes per year mtpy of copper cathode operating with current density of 184 amps per square meter am2 and 88 percent % electrical current efficiency. The process of electrolysis for copper was first developed in the late 19th century and despite numerous advancements in technology the. Electrolysis, electrowinning, and electrorefining processes. The two fractional factorial experimental designs have low and high temperature.
Two types are available the traditional scr thyristor controlled diode re. An electric current is passed through the solution causing solid gold to plate out on steel wool cathodes. Aug 07, 2016 electrowinning, also called electroextraction, is the electrodeposition of metals from their ores that have been put in solution via a process commonly referred to as leaching. Highlights liquors from wo acid leaching can be treated to obtain metallic zn by electrolysis. Electrowinning is the oldest industrial electrolytic process.
This is especially true when flat plate cathodes are used. Moreover, six of the mines opened between 1900 and 1920 are still among the major copper producers in the united states today. Electrowinning of copper from sulfate electrolyte in. The effects of operating variables including sulfur dioxide concentration, copper concentration, sulfuric acid concentration, current density and temperature on the cell voltage, anode potential, power consumption, current efficiency, deposit quality, surface. Torjus akre electrowinning of cobalt from chloride solutions core. In copper electrowinning, copper is usually electrodeposited on 316l stainless steel cathodes for six to seven days. Electrowinning is a widely used technology in modern metal recovery, mining, refining and waste water treatment applications.
The anode process in cobalt electrowinning torjus akre 1, geir martin haarberg 1, sarbjyot haarberg 2, jomar thonstad 1, ole morten dotterud 3 1 norwegian university of science and technology, department of materials technology, no7491 trondheim, norway 2 sintef materials and chemistry, no7465 trondheim, norway 3 falconbridge nikkelverk as. An engineering houses perspective of required inputs in designing a copper electrowinning tank house and ancillary equipment calls for both understanding of the key fundamental controlling mechanisms and the practical requirements to optimize cost, schedule and product quality. Steps to improve copper cathode quality are also described. At the time, the use of solvent extraction followed by electrowinning for low grade, impure leach solutions was a novel approach.
Various methods to control the acid mist have been developed including plastic balls or beads, foam mist suppressants, mechanical shields, and cell ventilation. Como engineers can supply high quality dc rectifiers for your electrowinning operation to couple with our range of electrowinning cells. These tanks are used in copper and zinc refineries, where they are filled with a mild acid for the electrowinning process. Sep 10, 2012 electrowinning process in electrowinning, direct current is passed from an inert anode through a liquid leach solution containing the metal so that the metal is extracted as it is deposited in an electroplating process onto the cathode. Aspects of the development of a new copper electrowinning. Rsr anodes can be relied upon for continuous, high volume productivity because of the unique combination of scientific research and engineering precision that go into their manufacture. Usually they are part of a larger operation to separate and recover pure metals from both scrap and primary ores.
The introduction of emews vortex electrowinning technology has further pushed the boundaries and applications of copper electrowinning. A mathematical model of a zinc electrowinning cell a. Examination of copper electrowinning smoothing agents. Electrowinning theory gold is recovered from pregnant gold bearing solution by the process of electrowinning. Operating under these conditions allowed at labscale zinc purities 99. Aspects of the development of a new copper electrowinning cell based on reactive electrodialysis l. Electrowinning, also called electroextraction, is the electrodeposition of metals from their ores that have been put in solution via a process commonly referred to as leaching. Comparative study of electrowinning of copper and cadmium in. The special course electrowinning operations deals with the details of electrorefining, i.
Isa process in late 70s and kidd process in late 80s. Smooth, good quality cathodes were produced in a prototype cell at current densities up to 30 adm2 270 asf. Both processes use electroplating on a large scale and are important techniques for the. Pdf a monitoring system for the copper solvent extraction. The two fractional factorial experimental designs have low and high temperature levels of 45oc and 55oc and, 45oc and 64oc to evaluate apam at electrolyte temperatures similar to commercial copper electrowinning and electrorefining conditions. Recovering copper cathode from acidic sulphate solutions using electrowinning is a wellknown and fairly straightforward process that has been in commercial use since the late 19th century. Sodium metal was first prepared in 1807 by the english chemist humphrey davy, who obtained it using electrolysis of molten sodium hydroxide. Research electrorefining and electrowinning world of. Instead of great leaps forward, technological innovation in the copper industry in the last 65. In this work, the eh pcl diagram of the cuclh2o system was established, and the kinetics of copper dissolution in cupric chloride solution were studied with an emphasis on possible difficulties that may occur during copper electrowinning. The results were used to guide an investigation of copper electrowinning from cupric chloride solution.