LIMITING CURRENT-DENSITY AND SPECIFIC ENERGY-CONSUMPTION IN ELECTROCHEMICAL-CELLS WITH INERT TURBULENCE PROMOTERS

Electrochemical cells with inert turbulence promoters (ITP) and plain cells of the same geometry have been compared with respect to their pr oductivity and specific energy consumption. As cathode reaction the di ffusion controlled copper ion deposition process has been used, while the anode reactions were either metal dissolution or oxygen evolution on a stable anode. It has been found that in the ITP cells with an ins oluble anode the contribution of ITP to the mass transfer enhancement is higher. The relationship between pumping energy and process energy has also been analysed as a function of hydrodynamic conditions for ea ch cell separately. The application of ITP cells has significant advan tages in electrowinning and plating processes, while they are not suit able, from an energy perspective, in galvanising processes, in which s oluble anodes are used. In the case of electrowinning the minimum ener gy consumption is found to be in the region of 0.1 - 1 g dm-3 of react ing ions, depending on the kind of cell used.