THE ELECTROCHEMICAL RECOVERY OF METALS FROM EFFLUENT AND PROCESS STREAMS

The removal of copper and nickel from aqueous solutions using a simple tank cell, an improved mass transfer inert fluidised bed cell (Chemel ec) and a three dimensional high surface area cell are examined. The h igh surface area cells which were examined closely consisted of a pack ed graphite particle bed cell using two different sizes of particle. T he packed bed cells were found to be extremely effective in reducing m etal concentrations below 1 ppm. The effect of current density and flo w rate were studied for each type of cell. The most economic concentra tion range in which each cell should operate was determined. From this data suitable combinations of cells can be chosen to remove metal for high concentrations (20 000 ppm) to very low concentrations (< 1 ppm) .