Low-temperature Electrolysis of Aluminium from 1-Butyl-3- methylimidazolium Chloroaluminate Ionic Liquids with Inert Anode

摘要

To solve the inherent problems rooted in the traditional Hall-Hroult electrolytic process foraluminium production, it necessary to develop low-temperature and low-energy technology. In thiswork, Lewis acidic 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloroaluminte ionic liquids were chosen aselectrolyte in the electrolysis of aluminium. Unlike previous research, glassy carbon was used as inertanode material in the study. On this basis, cyclic voltammetric and chronoamperometric measurementswere performed to explore the micro-electrochemical reaction in ionic liquids. Scanning electronmicroscope graphs show that smooth, compact and well-adherent deposits could be obtained at2 313.2~353.2 K, 5~15 mA/cm . The mass content of aluminium in all the products is higher than 99%.At the same time, systematical study on the release and adsorption of Cl2 generated from inert anodewas also carried out. According to experimental results, more than 96% efficiency has been achieved2 at .1 Mpa, 313.2~373.2 K and 5~25 mA/cm . It expected that the present work may be useful forindustrial application of ionic liquids in aluminium production.