scholarly journals Separation of Aluminum from More Noble Elements in an Electrolysis Cell with Side-by-Side Geometry

Author(s):  
AsbjØrn Solheim ◽  
Ole S. Kjos ◽  
Henrik Gudbrandsen ◽  
Egil Skybakmoen

AbstractCurrently, recycled metal is diluted with primary metal to keep the concentration of alloying elements within specification. This will be more difficult in the future, when a larger proportion of the metal is made from scrap. Particularly, there is a need for a process that can remove elements more noble than aluminum from the scrap metal. While electrolytic refining in a three-layer cell (the Hoopes process) is a possibility; the present paper presents a simpler and more flexible electrolysis cell where the anode metal (alloy) and the cathode metal (purified metal) are placed side-by-side. The principle was demonstrated in a laboratory cell. The current efficiency was above 80 pct and the specific energy consumption was about 7 kWh/kg Al. The refining effect was very good, e.g., the copper content in the 7xxx alloy used was reduced from 2.1 wt pct to less than 20 ppm. An industrial version of the cell used in the present work is suggested. The principles and design are generic and can be used for other purposes than recycling aluminum.

Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1053
Author(s):  
Andrey Yasinskiy ◽  
Sai Krishna Padamata ◽  
Ilya Moiseenko ◽  
Srecko Stopic ◽  
Dominic Feldhaus ◽  
...  

This work is a contribution to the approach for Al purification and extraction from scrap using the thin-layer multiple-capillary molten salt electrochemical system. The single- and multiple-capillary cells were designed and used to study the kinetics of aluminium reduction in LiF–AlF3 and equimolar NaCl–KCl with 10 wt.% AlF3 addition at 720–850 °C. The cathodic process on the vertical liquid aluminium electrode in NaCl–KCl (+10 wt.% AlF3) in the 2.5 mm length capillary had mixed kinetics with signs of both diffusion and chemical reaction control. The apparent mass transport coefficient changed from 5.6∙10−3 cm.s−1 to 13.1∙10−3 cm.s−1 in the mentioned temperature range. The dependence between the mass transport coefficient and temperature follows an Arrhenius-type behaviour with an activation energy equal to 60.5 J.mol−1. In the multiple-capillary laboratory electrolysis cell, galvanostatic electrolysis in a 64LiF–36AlF3 melt showed that the electrochemical refinery can be performed at a current density of 1 A.cm−2 or higher with a total voltage drop of around 2.0 V and specific energy consumption of about 6–7 kW.kg−1. The resistance fluctuated between 0.9 and 1.4 Ω during the electrolysis depending on the current density. Thin-layer aluminium recycling and refinery seems to be a promising approach capable of producing high-purity aluminium with low specific energy consumption.


1970 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Balasubramanian ◽  
Rajkumar Rajkumar ◽  
K K Singh

Experiment to identify ambient grinding conditions and energy consumed was conducted for fenugreek. Fenugreek seeds at three moisture content (5.1%, 11.5% and 17.3%, d.b.) were ground using a micro pulverizer hammer mill with different grinding screen openings (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mm) and feed rate (8, 16 and 24 kg h-1) at 3000 rpm. Physical properties of fenugreek seeds were also determined. Specific energy consumptions were found to decrease from 204.67 to 23.09 kJ kg-1 for increasing levels of feed rate and grinder screen openings. On the other hand specific energy consumption increased with increasing moisture content. The highest specific energy consumption was recorded for 17.3% moisture content and 8 kg h-1 feed rate with 0.5 mm screen opening. Average particle size decreased from 1.06 to 0.39 mm with increase of moisture content and grinder screen opening. It has been observed that the average particle size was minimum at 0.5 mm screen opening and 8 kg h-1 feed rate at lower moisture content. Bond’s work index and Kick’s constant were found to increase from 8.97 to 950.92 kWh kg-1 and 0.932 to 78.851 kWh kg-1 with the increase of moisture content, feed rate and grinder screen opening, respectively. Size reduction ratio and grinding effectiveness of fenugreek seed were found to decrease from 4.11 to 1.61 and 0.0118 to 0.0018 with the increase of moisture content, feed rate and grinder screen opening, respectively. The loose and compact bulk densities varied from 219.2 to 719.4 kg m-3 and 137.3 to 736.2 kg m-3, respectively.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5617
Author(s):  
Raman Kumar ◽  
Sehijpal Singh ◽  
Ardamanbir Singh Sidhu ◽  
Catalin I. Pruncu

This paper’s persistence is to make an inclusive analysis of 268 documents about specific energy consumption (SEC) in machining operations from 2001 to 2020 in the Scopus database. A systematic approach collects information on SEC documents’ primary data; their types, publications, citations, and predictions are presented. The VOSviewer 1.1.16 and Biblioshiny 2.0 software are used for visualization analysis to show the progress standing of SEC publications. The selection criteria of documents are set for citation analysis. The ranks are assigned to the most prolific and dominant authors, sources, articles, countries, and organizations based on the total citations, number of documents, average total citation, and total link strength. The author-keywords, index-keywords, and text data content analysis has been conducted to find the hotspots and progress trend in SEC in machining operations. The most prolific and dominant article, source, author, organization, and country are Anderson et al. “Laser-assisted machining of Inconel 718 with an economic analysis”, the Int J Mach Tools Manuf, Shin Y.C., form Purdue University Singapore, and United States, respectively, based on total citations as per defined criteria. The author keywords “specific cutting energy” and “surface roughness” dominate the machining operations SEC. SEC’s implication in machining operations review and bibliometric analysis is to deliver an inclusive perception for the scholars working in this field. It is the primary paper that utilizes bibliometric research to analyze the SEC in machining operations publications expansively. It is valuable for scholars to grasp the hotspots in this field in time and help the researchers in the SEC exploration arena rapidly comprehend the expansion status and trend.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 973
Author(s):  
Gigel Paraschiv ◽  
Georgiana Moiceanu ◽  
Gheorghe Voicu ◽  
Mihai Chitoiu ◽  
Petru Cardei ◽  
...  

Our paper presents the hammer mill working process optimization problem destined for milling energetic biomass (MiscanthusGiganteus and Salix Viminalis). For the study, functional and constructive parameters of the hammer mill were taken into consideration in order to reduce the specific energy consumption. The energy consumption dependency on the mill rotor spinning frequency and on the sieve orifices in use, as well as on the material feeding flow, in correlation with the vegetal biomass milling degree was the focus of the analysis. For obtaining this the hammer mill was successively equipped with 4 different types of hammers that grind the energetic biomass, which had a certain humidity content and an initial degree of reduction ratio of the material. In order to start the optimization process of hammer mill working process, 12 parameters were defined. The objective functions which minimize hammer mill energy consumption and maximize the milled material percentage with a certain specific granulation were established. The results obtained can serve as the basis for choosing the optimal working, constructive, and functional parameters of hammer mills in this field, and for a better design of future hammer mills.


Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Abdeljalil Chougradi ◽  
François Zaviska ◽  
Ahmed Abed ◽  
Jérôme Harmand ◽  
Jamal-Eddine Jellal ◽  
...  

As world demand for clean water increases, reverse osmosis (RO) desalination has emerged as an attractive solution. Continuous RO is the most used desalination technology today. However, a new generation of configurations, working in unsteady-state feed concentration and pressure, have gained more attention recently, including the batch RO process. Our work presents a mathematical modeling for batch RO that offers the possibility of monitoring all variables of the process, including specific energy consumption, as a function of time and the recovery ratio. Validation is achieved by comparison with data from the experimental set-up and an existing model in the literature. Energetic comparison with continuous RO processes confirms that batch RO can be more energy efficient than can continuous RO, especially at a higher recovery ratio. It used, at recovery, 31% less energy for seawater and 19% less energy for brackish water. Modeling also proves that the batch RO process does not have to function under constant flux to deliver good energetic performance. In fact, under a linear pressure profile, batch RO can still deliver better energetic performance than can a continuous configuration. The parameters analysis shows that salinity, pump and energy recovery devices efficiencies are directly linked to the energy demand. While increasing feed volume has a limited effect after a certain volume due to dilution, it also shows, interestingly, a recovery ratio interval in which feed volume does not affect specific energy consumption.


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