Abstract
The recovery of waste cupronickel not only can solve related environmental concerns but also facilitates the separation of valuable metals and reduces extra exploitation of natural ore resources. Here, high-efficiency and low-energy-consumption separation of copper (Cu) from waste 90/10 cupronickel (Ni ∼ 10 %) by electrolysis was clarified in choline chloride-ethylene glycol deep eutectic solvent (ChCl-EG DES). Electrochemistry showed that Cu can be dissolved feasibly as monovalent Cu(I), forming species such as [CuCl2]− and [CuCl3]2−, while Ni was restrained and entered into anode slime at controlled potential. Compared with Ni(II), Cu(I) can be easily reduced to Cu0, and elevating temperature can accelerate ions transportation and reduction rates. Potentiostatic electrolysis at bath voltage of 0.4 V found that highly pure Cu (99.9918 wt%) was obtained and the current efficiency reached up to 99.71 % with low specific energy consumption (169.18 kW·h·t−1). A separation mechanism model of Cu from waste 90/10 cupronickel was proposed and the role of the DES was revealed, which possessed strong coordination ability and fast transport capacity for Cu(I), as well as significant potential difference between Cu and Ni. This strategy represents a promising and economical technique for recycling waste Cu-based alloy and extracting highly pure metals.
Published Version
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