Abstract
The influence of adsorbate (D2EPHA and kerosene) on the process of zinc electrowinning from sulfuric acid electrolytes was analyzed. The main objective was to critically compare three factors: (1) Three types of activated carbon (AC); (2) adsorption temperatures and contact time; and (3) zinc recovery efficiency. The results showed that organic components reduced the efficiency of zinc recovery. Moreover, wood-based ACs had a higher adsorption capacity than coal- and coconut-based ACs. To maintain a removal efficiency of 99% or more, wood-based ACs should constitute at least 60% of the adsorbate. The temperature of adsorption did not affect the removal efficiency. Additionally, the feeding rate of adsorbate in the solvent was inversely proportional to the removal efficiency. A feeding rate of the liquid pump of over 3 mL/min rapidly increased the delta pressure. For the same contact time, 99% of adsorbate removal occurred at 1 mL/min compared to approximately 97% at 0.5 mL/min. In the presence of 100 mg/L zinc, with increasing adsorbate from 0–5%, the recovery efficiency of zinc decreased from 100% to 0% and the energy consumption increased from 0.0017–0.003 kwh/kg zinc. Considering the energy consumption and zinc deposit mass, 0.1% of the adsorbate is recommended for zinc electrowinning.
Highlights
Electrowinning (EW) of rare metals, such as zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mg), has been widely used due to its low energy consumption and high output [1,2,3,4,5]
The process of Zn electrowinning is conducted in several stages, including solvent extraction, Zn removal, and electrolytic winning [6,7]
Coal-activated carbon (AC) and and the oxygen content decreased in the following order: Wood-ACs
Summary
Electrowinning (EW) of rare metals, such as zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mg), has been widely used due to its low energy consumption and high output [1,2,3,4,5]. The effects of several parameters on Zn extraction from phosphoric acid solution were found to have the following order of importance: D2EHPA concentration > equilibrium pH > O/A phase ratio [16]. Ivanov’s research group focused on Zn impurities through the addition of inhibitors during electrowinning [18,19] They reported that the addition of inhibitors to the electrolytes caused Zn re-dissolution. For this reason, it is necessary to explore effective methods for the efficient removal of organic components in sulfuric acid solvent components to improve the Zn electrowinning process. (1) To compare the performance of three types of AC as an adsorbent; (2) to investigate the effects of adsorption temperature and contact time; and (3) to determine the efficiency of Zn recovery with organic components
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