PROCESS FOR DEZINCING GALVANIZED STEEL USING AN ELECTRICALLY ISOLATED CONVEYOR

摘要

A process for removing zinc from galvanized steel. The galvanized steel is immersed in an electrolyte containing at least about 15 % by weight of sodium or potassium hydroxide and having a temperature of at least about 75 DEG C and the zinc is galvanically corroded from the surface of the galvanized steel. The material serving as the cathode is principally a material having a standard electrode potential which is intermediate of the standard electrode potentials of zinc and cadmium in the electrochemical series. The steel scrap is carried through the electrolyte by a conveyor which is electrically isolated from ground and which comprises a cathodic material which has a standard electrode potential which is intermediate of the standard electrode potentials of zinc and cadmium in the electrochemical series.