Abstract
Copper is usually present in concentrations less than 5 g/L-1 in dilute waste solutions. The low concentrations make these solutions unsuitable for the electro-winning processes via conventional electrolysis cells. Unconventional, two- and three-dimensional electrode cells with relatively large cathodic area are essential for such treatment. Different types of cells are mentioned in the literature. Among these cells, the two-dimensional Swiss-roll cell (SR) is considered in this study. The effects of cathodic current densities, initial copper concentrations,free sulfuric acid concentration, the presence of iron and zinc cations, and the rate of flow of the solution on both the cathodic current efficiency and power consumption were studied. Copper was removed from synthetic and industrial mixtures of Cu/Fe/Zn sulfate solutions to less than 5 ppm with power consumptions of 10.326 kWh/kg(-1) and 8.61 kWh/kg(-1), respectively. The correlation between the SR cell and packed-column cell on such treatment was also considered.