| Abstract Scope |
Nickel and zinc are two metals commonly produced by electrowinning. An advanced electrowinning model has been developed for the simulation of Ni and Zn electrowinning processes by taking into considerations their process-specific characteristics. Gas-liquid two-phase flow, mass transport, and electrochemical reactions are included. For Ni electrowinning, the electrode diaphragms were incorporated into the model with a volume force form of Darcy’s Law developed by the authors. The effects of electrode diaphragms on the fluid flow, concentration, voltage drop, and current distribution were analyzed based on the simulation results. For Zn electrowinning, the current efficiency drop due to the hydrogen evolution on the cathode was studied by involving the hydrogen evolution reaction kinetics into the model. The effects of Zn concentration, H2SO4 concentration, temperature, and current density on the current efficiency were investigated with the model. |