Electrode structure provided with resistors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11136684-B2
Application number	US-201716081707-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2017
Priority date	Mar 9, 2016
Publication date	Oct 5, 2021
Grant date	Oct 5, 2021

Abstract

The invention relates to an electrode which can be employed in the cells of plants for the electrolytic extraction of copper and other non-ferrous metals from ionic solutions. The electrode consists of an apparatus comprising at least one anodic panel for the evolution of oxygen or chlorine connected through a plurality of resistors in parallel to at least one distribution structure for electrical current. The panel may optionally exhibit areas of electrical discontinuity. The invention also relates to an electrolyser using the electrode described above.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Anodic apparatus for electrorefinement or electrolytic extraction of non-ferrous metals comprising at least one anodic panel, which is used as an anode and presents at least one surface capable of evolving oxygen or chlorine, and at least one electrical current distribution structure, characterized by the fact that said at least one anodic panel is equipped with at least one zone of partial or total electrical discontinuity, wherein the zone of partial electrical discontinuity is an electrically insulating region measuring at least 1 cm along at least one dimension located within the anodic panel and optionally includes edges, and wherein the zone of total electrical discontinuity is an electrically insulating region measuring at least 1 cm along at least one dimension extending along a whole dimension of the panel, thus subdividing the panel into several subpanels, and said at least one electrical current distribution structure is electrically connected to said at least one anodic panel by a plurality of resistors set in parallel with one another, each resistor of said plurality of resistors having a resistance, measured at 40° C., equal to or greater than 5·10 −5 Ω,
wherein said at least one anodic panel is equipped with at least a number N1 of electrical connection regions connected with said plurality of resistors and at least a number N2 of zones of electrical discontinuity, said N1 connection regions being arranged along a first vertical strip, said N2 zones of electrical discontinuity being arranged along a second vertical strip; N1 being a number of between 5 and 100 and N2 being greater than 0.5·N1.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one anodic panel is made up of a substrate made of valve metal or its alloys and at least one catalytic coating.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one anodic panel is chosen from mesh, perforated plates or louver structures.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each anodic panel is electrically connected to at least one electrical current distribution structure by a number of between 15 and 600 resistors set in parallel.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of resistors is connected to said at least one anodic panel through a plurality of electrical connection regions situated on the panel and said at least one zone of electrical discontinuity is situated between two neighbouring electrical connection regions.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of resistors is connected to said at least one anodic panel through a plurality of electrical connection regions, said anodic panel having a plurality of zones of electrical discontinuity, and for every two neighbouring zones of electrical discontinuity set at a height h1 and h2 with respect to the base of said at least one anodic panel, with h1<h2, there is at least one connection region situated at a height h3, with h1≤h3≤h2.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one anodic panel is equipped with at least a number N3 of further electrical connection regions connected with said plurality of resistors, said N3 connection regions being arranged along a third vertical strip, and N3 being a number between 5 and 100.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein at least one anodic panel is equipped with at least a number N4 of further zones of electrical discontinuity, with N4 being greater than 0.5·N3, said N4 zones of electrical discontinuity being arranged along a fourth vertical strip.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one zone of electrical discontinuity is a cut, hole or an insert of electrical insulating material.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one zone of electrical discontinuity measures at least 5 cm in length along at least one dimension.

11. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said anodic panel comprises at least two titanium anodic subpanels separated from one another, said at least two subpanels being chosen from louver, sheets and expanded mesh structures, and at least two electrical current distribution structures, each electrical current distribution structure being connected to a subpanel by a plurality of resistors set in parallel with one another, each subpanel comprising 5-100 connection regions arranged along a first vertical strip, each connection region being alternated with a horizontal cut having a length of at least 5 cm and each cut having at least one point set at a distance of 0-10 cm from said first vertical strip.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said anodic panel is equipped with at least 20 zones of electrical discontinuity and at least 20 connection regions capable of connecting said at least one anodic panel with at least 20 resistors set in parallel with one another, each zone of electrical discontinuity being set at a distance of less than 15 cm from at least one of said connection regions.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each resistor of said at least one plurality of resistors has an electrical resistance of between 5·10 −4 and 1Ω.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein each said resistor has an electrical resistance of between 5 and 100 mΩ.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of resistors set in parallel has an equivalent electrical resistance of between 10 −5 and 10 −3 Ω.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each resistor of said plurality of resistors is chosen from the group consisting of plates, strips, meshes, cables, fabrics and pads.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of resistors is a sheet, an expanded mesh or a perforated plate of valve metal with zones of electrical discontinuity.

18. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one anodic panel and said plurality of resistors are a single piece of a bent sheet, expanded mesh or perforated plate of valve metal.

19. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electrical current distribution structure comprises a sheet or panel made of lead or lead alloys.

20. An electrolyser for electrolytic extraction of non-ferrous metals comprising at least one anodic apparatus as described in claim 1 .

Assignees

• Industrie De Nora Spa

Inventors

• Fiorucci Alessandro
• Perego Michele
• Perrone Paolo
• Mojana Corrado

Classifications

• C25C1/00

  Electrolytic production, recovery or refining of metals by electrolysis of solutions (C25C5/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C25C7/06 Primary

  Operating or servicing · CPC title

• C25C1/12

  of copper · CPC title

• C25B1/26

  Chlorine; Compounds thereof (by simultaneous production of alkali metal hydroxides and chlorine, oxyacids or salts of chlorine C25B1/34) · CPC title

• C25C7/02 Primary

  Electrodes (consumable anodes for the refining the metals C25C1/00 - C25C5/00); Connections thereof · CPC title