Physico-chemical properties of copper electrorefining and electrowinning electrolytes

Viscosity and density models for copper electrorefining electrolytes

“…The designed model of density (Equation 1) and viscosity (Equation 2) were in a good agreement with the results of Price and Davenport [1] and Devochkin et al [7] when the effect of As was not included (Figs. 1 and 2).…”

“…That is outside the range of the temperatures used in the electrorefining process. Moreover, the viscosity values defined with the current model were higher than the equivalent values of Price and Davenport [1], when the effect of As was taken into account (Fig. 2).…”

“…Viscosity and density are highly important physicochemical properties of copper electrolyte since they affect the purity of cathode copper and energy consumption [1,2] affecting the mass and heat transfer conditions in the cell [3]. Increasing viscosity and density decreases the rate in which the anode slime falls to the bottom of the cell [4,5] and lowers the diffusion coefficient of cupric ion (DCu2+) [6].…”

“…According to the studies of Price and Davenport [3], Subbaiah and Das [2], Devochkin et al [7] as well as Jarjoura et al [8] increasing the concentration of copper, nickel and sulfuric acid increases both viscosity and density, while temperature decreases these properties. In addition, Price and Davenport [1] researched the effect of impurities arsenic and iron as well as Subbaiah and Das [2] the effect of iron, manganese and cobalt. All of these researchers found that those impurities increased both viscosity and density.…”

“…2). Copper electrorefining electrolyte kinematic viscosity as a function of As(III) and H2SO4 plotted using models from this work, and models of Price and Davenport [1] and Devochkin et al [7] and with [Cu(II)] = 50 g/ dm 3 and [Ni(II)] = 18 g/ dm 3 .…”