A Comparative Study of Electrolyte Flow and Slime Particle Transport in a Newly Designed Copper Electrolytic Cell and a Laboratory-Scale Conventional Electrolytic Cell
A Comparative Study of Electrolyte Flow and Slime Particle Transport in a Newly Designed Copper Electrolytic Cell and a Laboratory-Scale Conventional Electrolytic Cell
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DOI：
10.1007/s11837-016-2076-x
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发表时间：
2017-10
期刊：
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Weizhi Zeng;Shijie Wang;M. Free
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Weizhi Zeng;Shijie Wang;M. Free
设计了一种新型铜电解槽，其入口在槽顶，出口在槽底，与传统电解槽不同。在COMSOL Multiphysics中建立了铜电解精炼过程的数学模型。与传统的电解精炼槽不同，向下的电解质流在该槽中的流体流场中更占主导地位，这导致矿泥颗粒的更快沉降和对阴极的更少污染。得到了铜浓度分布、电解液流速场、矿泥颗粒运动和矿泥颗粒分布等模拟结果，并与实验室规模的常规电解槽进行了比较。结果表明，新设计的电解槽具有以下优点：铜离子在槽内分布更均匀，阴极附近扩散层更薄;极间区域对流更强，向下流动占主导地位;泥质颗粒沉降的可能性更大，到达阴极的可能性更小。
An innovative copper electrolytic cell was designed with its inlet at the cell top and its outlet near the cell bottom, in opposite to conventional electrolytic cells. It was modeled in COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate copper electrorefining process. Unlike conventional electrorefining cells, downward electrolyte flows are more dominant in the fluid flow field in this cell, which leads to faster settlement of slime particles and less contamination to the cathode. Copper concentration profiles, electrolyte flow velocity field, slime particle movements, and slime particle distributions were obtained as simulation results, which were compared with those in a laboratory-scale conventional electrolytic cell. Advantages of the newly designed electrolytic cell were found: copper ions are distributed more uniformly in the cell with a thinner diffusion layer near the cathode; stronger convection exists in the inter-electrode domain with dominant downward flows; and slime particles have larger possibilities to settle down and are less likely to reach the cathode.