Fiftieth Anniversary: Industrial Electrolysis

Abstract

In 1902, when The Electrochemical Society was founded, the word "electrometallurgy" was synonymous with electroplating to a great many people and at least one book on plating with that title was in circulation. However, wh~t may be termed the "electrolytic metallurgical industry" was in a state of great activity. Faraday's laws had been known for more than sixty years; Lorenz had found that they apply to fused salts as well as aqueous solutions; Davy, Bunsen, and others had shown that practically any metal could be rer electrolytically under the proper conditions; and large supplies of power were available from newly installed :steam and hydroelectric plants. Indeed, the time might well be termed a period of overoptimism as there were many who thought that electrochemistry was the key to the solution of all metallurgical problems. It is not surprising, therefore, that men like Hoepfner, Botchers, Ashcroft, and engineers of Siemens and Halske were busy devising processes for the .extraction and recovery of all of the then conmmn metals and that patents were being issued at high rates in the major industrial countries. Some of these processes reached pilot plant and even industrial scales of operation before they were abandoned, and many very valuable details were disclosed which were later incorporated in other and more successful processes.Furthermore, the industry had reached a position of con~iderable commercial importance. The Hall-Heroult process was 14 years old and had produced 7450 long tons of aluminum in 1901; the Csstner sodium process was in operation at Niagara Fails, in England, and on the Continent; and electrolytic magnesium had ah'eady made its start in Germany. The histories of these metals are discussed in other articles.Among the heavier nonferrous metals, the electrolytic refining of copper was well established. Ulke (1) listed ten refineries operating in the United States in 1902 with an annual total capacity of 339,450 short tons, and 23 in Europe with a capacity of about 46,000 short tons. It is of interest to note that, even at that time, eight of the American plants and 19 of the others used the "multiple" electrode arrangement, and that six of the American plants are still in operation. The Hoepfner electrolytic zinc process using a chloride electrolyte was operating in a plant at Winnington, England, which produced 1663 long tons of metal in 1901, and in two other plants on the Continent. The Moebius and the Balbach-Thum processes were in use for the parting of gold and silver, and gold was being refined commercially by the Wohlwill process.

Twenty‐Five Years' Progress in Electrowinning and Electrorefining of Metals

“…[VFe] --KPo~ 2/~ [3] [Fei +~] = K'Po2 -2/3 [4] (Note: An equation similar to Eq. [4] can also be written for [Fei+~]. )…”