Zinc electrowinning from acidic chloride solutions

The effects of catholyte flow velocity, temperature, current density, and zinc, HCl, NaCl and TBACl inhibitor concentrations have been investigated in the electrowinning of zinc from chloride solutions. The deposit morphology, cell voltage, current efficiency, and energy consumption under different electrowinning conditions were determined. The energy consumption decreased with increasing catholyte flow velocity, zinc concentration, HCl concentration, and NaCl concentration and increased with increasing temperature and current density. Optimized electrowinning conditions are as follows: a solution composition of 20 g/L Zn, 9 g/L HCl, 1 mol/L NaCl, and 50 mg/L TBACl, circulating the catholyte at a flow velocity of 100 cm/min and electrowinning at a current density of 300 A/m 2 at 35-40°C.