Electrowinning of cobalt from acidic sulphate solutions - Effect of chloride ion

Cobalt electrowinning from acidic sulphate solution was carried our in the presence and absence of chloride ion in the electrolyte. The effect of curr ent density, electrolyte flow rare and temperature on cobalt electrowinning was studied from pure cobalt sulphate solutions and solutions containing 2 000 mg dm(-3) chloride ion. It was found that presence of chloride ion did not have any significant effect on cobalt deposition potential, current eff iciency and preferred crystal orientation of the electrowon cobalt. However , the surface morphology of the cobalt electrodeposits was affected quite s trongly which may be attributed to the variation of the intensity of the cr ystal planes during the electrodeposition process. (C) 2001 Published by El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.