Technical assessment of industrial operation of copper electrowinning cells with current source topology

Author

Wiechmann, Eduardo P. ; Aqueveque, Pablo E. ; Munoz, Luis G. ; Henriquez, Jorge A. ; Morales, Anibal S.

Author_Institution

Univ. of Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile

fYear

2013

fDate

6-11 Oct. 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

Since the last quarter of 2010, a circuit consisting of 92 cells in Barrick Zaldivar´s EW plant is working with current source connection. The technology was progressively incorporated without disrupting the plant production. During the three month evaluation current efficiency and energy consumption were improved. The review of the technology includes an unexpected phenomenon called “dirty contact” that decreases the energy efficiency and reliability of the topology. By February 2013, 120,000 tons of copper have been produced with the technology.

Keywords

copper; electrowinning; energy conservation; energy consumption; industrial plants; mining industry; Barrick Zaldivar EW plant; copper electrowinning cells; copper production; current efficiency; current source connection; current source topology reliability; dirty contact phenomenon; energy consumption; industrial operation; plant production; technical assessment; Copper; ISO standards; Indium tin oxide; Industrial plants; Mining industry; Electrowinning; current efficiency; energy consumption; intercell bar; short circuit;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, 2013 IEEE

Conference_Location

Lake Buena Vista, FL

ISSN

0197-2618

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IAS.2013.6682574

Filename

6682574