Title :
Reducing Specific Energy to Shrink the Carbon Footprint in a Copper Electrowinning Facility
Author :
Wiechmann, Eduardo P. ; Morales, Anibal S. ; Aqueveque, Pablo ; Mayne-Nicholls, Robert
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile
Abstract :
Various technologies and strategies to reduce specific energy consumption are examined. Results include 16 harvest cycles for 30 cells, totaling 62 400 cathodes with a weight of 2500 ton. The industrial site was Zaldivar, which is a Barrick mining operation located at 175 km southeast from Antofagasta, Chile. The production averages 140 000 ton/year of copper cathodes. With the technologies tested in this paper, 14 000 MWh and corresponding 14 000 ton of CO2 will be saved per year.
Keywords :
air pollution; cathodes; electrowinning; energy consumption; mining; production facilities; Antofagasta; Barrick mining operation; Chile; Zaldivar; carbon footprint; copper cathodes; copper electrowinning facility; harvest cycles; industrial site; specific energy consumption reduction; Bars; Carbon; Cathodes; Copper; Current density; Dispersion; Carbon footprint; cell voltage; current density dispersion; current efficiency; electrowinning (EW); intercell bar; specific energy;
Journal_Title :
Industry Applications, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TIA.2011.2126035
