The present invention concerns a method for the production of metals by electrolysis from an aqueous electrolyte using at least one anode and at least one rotational cathode.

The use of rotational plate cathodes is described in US patent No. 1 073 868. The desired metal, here, precipitates onto the cathodes in the shape of a plate-like coating.

There has not been much practical use of rotational electrod¬ es stationary plate cathodes being mainly in use to day.

The advantage of stationary plate cathodes lies in the simp¬ licity of operation and relatively low maintenance costs. They are, however, quite dependent on manual handling in the tankhouse.

The first rotational cathodes, like the ^* stationary _t ->late cathodes, produced platelike cathodic deposits. The only difference was the geometry of the cathodes. The first ment¬ ioned were circula* and the last mentioned rectangular. One of the reasons why rotational plate cathodes were not widely accepted may be the difficulties experienced in ..tripling the deposited metal from the cathodic material.

Development of the art of chemical processes during 1.rer years led to complete automation of all unit operations in an integrated process. In the case of electrolysis with stationary plate cathodes, partial automation is achieved by use of computors . The computors keep track of retention times of the cathodea in the electrolyte, and when the ex¬ pected amount of metal is deposited, the computer will send an overhead crane to pick up the cathodes and move them to the stripping section. Then, the crane returns with a fresh mother plate cathode to the vacant place in the electro¬ lytic tank.

Practical operation of such an automated electrolytic pro¬ cess is very complicated and many producers, thus, maintain old routines with manual labour operation.

In order to fully automate an electrolytic process, the concept of electrolysis must be changed to a new method maintaining the same metal quality as that obtained by the old methods, at the same costs, but permitting automation.

The present invention concerns a method that can be operated substantially continuously and automatic. This is achieved by use of at least one plate-shaped rotational cathode that is coated with an electrically insulating coat through which a number of electrical conductors are mounted. Each conduct¬ or serves as an area for deposition of the metal. Alternat¬ ively, the areas may be small holes made in the insulating coating.

When said areas are in the shape of holes in the insulating coating, it is a practical advantage to make said holes along a helical path with a mutual distance between holes of 0 to 5 mm. When this distance is 0 mm a continuous helical groove is made on the cathode. The deposited metal can, then, be withdrawn as a. wi e. If it is desirable to produce cathodes h' ing such a helical groove, said groove may be cut using _ sharp instrument that will cut through the in¬ sulating coating nd expose the underlying elecroconductive core to thf electrolyte.

As -previously men-t-ioTied, an apparatus for electrolysis using rotational cathodes is known from US-SP 1 073 868. According to said patent the metal was deposited as a continuous coat onto the cathodes, and when the pre-set thickness was obtained said coat wa_ι stripped. This is an expensive and complicated process.

Furthermore, according to US-PS No. 3 860 509 an electrolyt¬ ic cell is mounted inside a housing and comprises a flat

rotational cathode spaced at a short distance from the corresponding anode. The shown cathode consists of a number of small diameter cathodic elements separated by an insulat¬ ing matrix. Each element ends in a small tip onto which the metal may be deposited as a dendrite that can be scraped off using a mechanical device mounted on the facing anode sur¬ face. The scraper can be moved in a radial direction and the deposited dendrites on the cathode can, thus, be scraped off from said cathode and may sink to the bottom to be washed out together with the spent electrolyte when the latter is replaced by a fresh electrolyte. The dendrites are then separated from the electrolyte by a suitable method.

In US-PS No. 4 082 641 dealing with stationary plate cathod¬ es comprising a number of electrical conductors separated by an insulating material, the electrolytic cell mentioned in US-PS No. 3 860 509 is discussed as follows: "This basic concept has been described in US patent No. 3 860 509 where it has been used to generate fine, powder-like metals con¬ tinuously on microscopic islands, but the technique disclosed therein is unsuitable for batch converser application where much larger deposits are involved". As mentioned here, the electrolysis cell of US patent No. 3 860 509 is not suitable for industrial use. Additionally, the shown cell is too complicated for practical use.

In US-PS No. 4 025 400 a continuous process using stationa¬ ry cathodes is disclosed, where the deposited metal is re¬ moved by use of "windscreen wiper"-like devices. The removed metal sinks down through the electrolyte onto a conveyor belt which transports the metal out of the cell. Such a method, as explained in the last mentioned US patent, is relatively complex as a result of the use of mechanical scrapers used in a cell having a large number of^alternat¬ ing anodes and cathodes. Another complicating factor is the conveyor belt transporting the metal out of the cell.

According to the present method at least one rotating cathode is used. It is, advantageously, a circular plate. The cathodic material can, e.g. be of the kind described in US- PS No. 4 193 434, or it may be a metallic material onto which a non-conductive material is nailed in such a manner that a large number of nails/spikes having a diameter of up to 25 mm form the active cathode surface. Such a cathode can be manufactured in accordance with the method disclosed in the Norwegian patent application No. 85 0133 (January 11, 1985).

In stead of producing the cathode in accordance with said NO patent application No. 85 0133, a cathode may be used where the precipitated metal is deposited in holes drilled in the insulating material, or in a helical groove made in the insulating material. A further, but less attractive, form of a groove is one extending radially towards the peri¬ phery. Generally speaking, the utilized cathode will comprise a number of electroconductive areas separated by an electric¬ ally insulating material.

The invention is in the following described with reference r? the following figures, where

Figure 1 shows a cathodic wheel used in accordance with the pref ' ^■ >'•- method,

figure 2 sho.ws another cathodic wheel used in accordance with the present method,

Figure 3. is a more detailed view of a groove made in the cathodic wheel of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a more detailed view of a hole drilled in the insulating coat of Figure 1,

Figure 5 shows part of an electrolytic apparatus, where the

cathodic wheel in use is provided with a helical groove,

Figure 6 shows a similar arrangemant to that of Figure 5, the cathodic wheel, here, being provided with a number of holes drilled along a helical path,

Figure 7 shows an electrolytic cell comprising a number of anodes and cathodes. In the figure, only cathodes having a number of holes drilled in the electrically insulating coating are shbwn with an additional removing device (10) for removing the deposited metal different from that shown in Figure 5.

Explanation of the figures.

Figure 1.

(1) is the cathodic wheel having an insulating coating. (2) is an electroconductive helical groove area. (Only one groove is shown here.) (3) is the hole in the wheel for the shaft. This wheel produces wire.

Figure 2.

(1) is the cathodic wheel having an insulating coating. (2) is a hole drilled along a helical path (4). (3) is a hole in the wheel for the shaft. (5) is the insulating portion between each hole. This wheel produces prills.

Figure 3.

(1) is a groove made in the insulating-coating (3). The bottom of the groove is naked metal (2>. In the section A-A (4) designates the underlying metal cathode having an insulating coating (5) applied. (6) is a cross section of the wire made in the groove. (7) shows where the first metal is deposited which has a "rotten" texture. (8) shows the zone where "brittle" metal is located whereas (9) indicates the zone where solid metal is located.

Figure 4.

(1) shows the helical path along which holes are drilled in the insulating coating (2). (2) shows the hole, and (4) in¬ dicates the conductive metal bottom in the hole.

In section A-A (5) is the metal of the cathode, whereas (6) is the non-conductive coating applied. (7) shows a section of a prill, where (8) is the "rotten" zone first deposited at a very high current density. (9) shows the brittle zone, and (10) shows the zone where the solid metal is deposited.

Figure 5.

(1) indicates the cathodic wheel shown in Figure 1, where

(2) is the helical groove. (3) is the wire remover (cropper, harvester) controlled by (4). The wire taken off is wound by (5) and a bundle (6) can be removed. (7) is the anode, and (8) is the tank with an electrolyte (9).

Figure 6.

(1) is the cathodic wheel shown in Figure 2, where (2) in¬ dicates holes drilled along a helical path, as shown in Figure 2. (3) designates the prill remover (cropper, harvest- er) which is controlled by (4). The prills are sucked by a suction system (5) down into (6) and are discharged into (7). (8) is an anode in a tank (9) containing an electro¬ lyte (10).

Figure 7.

In this figure rotating plate cathodes (1) are arranged alternately with anodes (3) in a tank (4). Cathode (1) is provided with a number of electroconductive areas (2) separ¬ ated by an electrically insulating material. Such a cathode, thus, represents one of the previously disclosed cathodic materials. The plate cathodes are mounted on a rotating shaft (7).

The anodes and cathodes are connected to (not shown) an external power supply via current bus-bars (5) and (6) respectively. The electrolyte is added to the tank (4)

through a supply pipe or conduit (8) and spent electrolyte is removed from tank (4) through a corresponding pipe or conduit (9). The metal deposited on the cathodes is removed by use of mechanical scraper (10) and the removed metal (12) falls down onto a conveyor (11) and is removed from the system. In the figure only one scraper on one side of cathode 1 is shown, whereas in practice, of course, a scraper on each side of each rotating cathode 1 will be used.

When a helical groove is cut in the cathodic coating it is, preferably, made in such a manner that the width of the conductive metal bottom of the groove is in the range of 0,05-0,2 mm. When holes are drilled in the insulating coat¬ ing on the cathode, the metallic bottom of the hole, pre¬ ferably, has a diamter in the range of 0,1-0,5 mm for the production of prills.

Persons skilled in tne art of electrolysis will know that different metals deposited by electrolysis will show vary¬ ing rigidity and hardness. A hard and brittle metal may, advantageously, be deposited as prills, and a soft metal may, advantageously, be deposited as a wire by using a cathode with a helical groove cut into it.

The present method will be further described by the follow¬ ing examples.

Example 1.

The object of this example was to prove that copper prills can be made by electrolysis in a standard CuSO./H„SO electrolyte using a rotating cathode coated with a plastic coating into which a number of holes had been made, thus, exposing the underlying cathode metal to the electrolyte through said holes.

Test conditions were as follows:

8

Rotation of cathode 2 rpm

Temperature 40 °C

Anode Copper

Cathode Plastic coated stainless stell plate having 200 holes with dia¬ meter 0,5 mm. Cathode diameter = 200 mm.

Current 0,2 amps at start 4,5 amps at the end

Cell voltage 0,3 volts Submersion of cathode in the electrolyte 45% of total cathodic area.

Table 1 - Results

Time Average prill weight Average prill diam.

(hrs) (mg) (mm)

17.7 42 2,7

The test shows that almost perfect semi-spherical prills of copper were produced in a size that could easily be stripped off after 17,5 hours of electrolysis. The prills were solid and could easily be washed to remove traces of electrolyte.

The electrolytic cell was operated on a constant cell volt- age of 0,3 volts, thus, varying the current density in accordance with the size of the prills produced.

In practice an even current distribution is expected and henc a consiant cell current and voltage, this because several ca¬ thodes will be utilized in a cell and only some of the ca¬ thode sides will be stripped at any given period of time.

Example 2

The object of this example was to show that prills are also formed when the diameter of the hole exposed to the electro¬ lyte (hereafter called "island") was larger than 0-5 mm. The diameter was varied from 0.5 to 4.5 mm, but the test was carried out as in example 1 for the rest.

Table 2 - Results

Time Isiland diam. Average prill Average prill

(mm) diam. (mm) weight (mg)

17.5 0,5 2.7 42 (ex.l)

50 1.5 5.0 270

33 2.5 5.0 260

80 4.5 8.0 650

Theoretical weight (mg)

44 0.95

280 0.96

280 0.93

1140 0.57

F = a factor showing the ratio between the weight of the deposited prill and the weight of a perfect semi- spherical ball having the same diameter as the deposit¬ ed p ll.

The test shows that the prills produced were almost perfect semi-spherical balls when the island diameter was less than 2.5 mm. The semi-spherical prills were easier to strip off than prills made on islands having a diameter of more than 2.5 mm This indicates that it is advantageous, in practic¬ al operation, to use islands having a diameter of less than 2.5 mm.

Example 3.

This example was carried out to show the advantage of using rotational cathodes as compared to stationary plate cathodes. A zinc anode was used in a zinc chloride electro¬ lyte. The cathode was a rotational aluminium plate coated with a 2 mm thick plastic plate nailed to the aluminium core by use of aluminium nails. It was, in other words, produced in accordance with NO patent application No. 85 0133. The heads of the nails served as islands, and

10 during electrolysis zinc was deposited on said islands. The diameter of said islands was 4.5 mm and the temperature was 32.5°C. The electrolyte contained 25 g/1 Zn ⁺⁺ and the pH was adjusted to 2 using HCl. No organic polymers were added.

Table 3 - Results

Time RPM Current e :ff. Energy used (hrs) ( % ) (kwh/ton Zn)

24 0 15 . 2 1210

32 1 98.4 600

22 2 95.2 630

23 6 91.3 670

The zinc prills were flat but easy to strip off from the cathode. The current was almost constant at 1.0 - 1.3 amps with a cell voltage of 0.6 - 0.8.

The test clearly indicates that it is advantageous to use rotational cathodes in the present method, the rotational cathode causing good stirring of the electrolyte in the tank and, thereby, decreasing or eliminating the diffusion- al zones along the cathode caused by the hydrogen bubbles , as well as denudation of the electrolyte w.r.t. zinc ions.

Example 4.

The object of this test was to produce wire instead of prills of copper.

A circular cathode wheel was made from stainless steel with a diameter of 1.0 meter and was coated with an epoxy resin. On one side, a helical groove was -cut in the epoxy resin down to the underlying metal in such a manner that the bottom of the groove was a 0.2 mm wide metal band having a length egual to the entire length of the groove. The helical groove had a pitch of 5 mm, so that the total length of the spiral was 140 meters, starting from the cathode's outside

(D =- 0.98 m) to an inner diameter of 0.25 meters.

Said wheel was submerged in a standard copper electrolyte to 40% of the total cathode surface, and the current flow was started. After 35 hours of electrolysis at 17 amperes, 610 g of copper-wire were stripped from the wheel portion above said electrolyte. This wire had a diameter of about 1.0 mm and a cross-section almost perfectrly semi-circular,

Test data

Anode Lead ( 3 % Sb stabilized)

Cathode Stainless steel, epoxy resin coated on both sides.

Electrolyte Copper sulphate/sulphuric acid (60 g/1 Cu, 100 g/1 H ₂ ≤0 ₄ )

Temperature 79°C Cell voltage 1.66 V (at the end)

Conclusions The initial current density was so high that the bottom of the wire (the metal first deposited in the groove) was

"rotten" and appeared as a dark powder. As the wire grew

2 current density was decreased towards 1.7 A/dm . This pro¬ duced a solid, shining metal wire. Stripping of said wire was very easy due to the "rotten" core made initially. This method of electrolysis is intentional and a preferred method in accordance with the present invention.

Stripping was performed using a "pick-up" which was provided with a small stainless steel knife on the end. Said "pick¬ up" was a hollow tube connected to a spooling arrangement. The wire loosened by the knife was easily transported down the tube to the spooler where a coil was made of the wire produced. The "pick-up" easily followed the helically formed wire on the cathode.

Example 5

The object of this test was to make nickel prills,

A circular cathode wheel made from stainless steel and hav¬ ing a diameter of 1.0 m was coated with an epoxy resin. On one side 17 500 holes were drilles in such a manner that the bottom of the holes exposed the underlying metal core. The diameter of this metallic bottom was 0.2 mm. Said holes were drilled seguencially along a helical path 8 mm apart. The pitch of said path was 5 mm, the total length of said helical path, thus, being 140 m, starting from the cathode outside (D _= 0.98 m) to an inner diameter of 0.25 m.

Test data Cathode Stainless steel, epoxy resin coated on both sides

Anode Ruthenium coated titanium Electrolyte Nickel sulphate/-chloride (Ni = 60 g/1, pH = 1.3 - 1.5)

Temperature 77°C

Cell voltage 2.12 V (at the end)

Conclusions

After 32 hours of electrolysis at a constant current of 17 amps, 530 grams of nickel prills were easily stripp_jol frcm the cathode wheel.

The initial current density was so high that the be ^ o of prills (the metal initially deposited in the drilled holes) was "rotten" and consisted of a dark powder.

As the prills grew current density decreased towards 2.5 A/

2 dm . This produced solid and shining metal prills. Stripp- ing the prills was very easy due to the "rotten" core init¬ ially formed. This procedure is ententional and a preferred method in accordance with this invention, both as regards

wire and prills.

Stripping was performed using a "pick-up" provided with a small stainless steel knife at the end. The "pick-up" was a hollow tube connected to a suction system and a cyclone. The prills loosened by the knife were easily and efficiently sucked into said "pick-up" and then down into the cyclone, from which they were discharged after ended stripping. The "pick-up" easily followed the helical path made by the prills.

This shows that the present invention is flexible encompass¬ ing a cathode having at least one continuous grove/side to a cathode having its groove divided into smaller portions (holes) and, thus, producing prills instead of wire.

Example 6

The object of this test was to produce nickel wire. The electrolyte and the procedure from example 5 were used, but the cathodic wheel was replaced by one as used in example 4.

After ended electrolysis the nickel wire produced was stripped off and spooled to a coil as mentioned in example 4. This shows that the present ^' invention is also flexible so as to encompass production of nickel wire.

It was found that the cathode in the pilot plant could be submerged to between 30 to 70% of its total surface area into the used electrolyte.