Hydrodynamic studies in natural and forced convection electrowinning cells

Horizontal and vertical mapping of the cathode mass transfer coefficient was used to compare the hydrodynamics of full height model electrowinning cells employing either natural convection or two methods of forced convection. The most sgnificant improvement in performance was achieved with uniform agitation resulting from sparging gas over the cathode surface. On a employe une transposition horizontale et verticale du coefficient de transfert de masse a la cathode pour comparer l'hydrodynamique des cellules electrolytiques d'un modele a pleine hauteur, qui utilisaient une convection naturelle on deux methodes de convection forcee. On a obtenu l'amelioration la plus importante dans la performance au moyen de l'agitation uniforme due au barbotage du gaz a la surface de la cathode.