EFFICIENT ELECTROWINNING OF ZINC FROM ALKALINE ELECTROLYTES

摘要

Zinc metal is deposited from an alkali electrolyte solution onto conductive seed particles in an electrowinning cell which yields unusually high current efficiency and low energy consumption. The electrowinning cell is defined by side edge walls (12, 13) tapering toward the bottom, and contains internal partitions (14, 15) which divide the interior into a levitation zone or draft tube (16) open at both its upper end (17) and its lower end (18), and two downflow sections (19, 20).