A Comparative Study of Electrolyte Flow and Slime Particle Transport in a Newly Designed Copper Electrolytic Cell and a Laboratory-Scale Conventional Electrolytic Cell

摘要

AbstractAn 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.