Abstract

A novel process for recovery of tellurium (Te) from spent Te electrolytes by cyclone electrowinning was developed. The effects of current density, electrolysis time, flow rate of the electrolyte (FRE), electrolyte temperature and cathode substrates on current efficiency (CE), tellurium recovery, cell voltage, energy consumption (EC), and surface morphology were systematically investigated. 99.90% of purity Te deposits were obtained while 95.61% of CE was achieved under the optimum conditions: electrolysis time of 24 h, current density of 60 A·m⁻², FRE of 300 L·h⁻¹, temperature of 30 °C and cathode substrates of 316L SS. Meanwhile, Te recovery and EC were 82.89% and 1810.58 kWh·t⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, as the solution after the electrowinning is recyclable, the consumption of reagents and the liquid effluent are minimized. All the parameters indicate that the cyclone electrowinning technology might serve as a promising alternative for recovering Te from spent Te electrolyte.

Graphical Abstract

中文翻译：

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旋风电子沉积从废电解质中高效回收碲

摘要

开发了一种新的通过旋风除尘从废Te电解质中回收碲的方法。系统地研究了电流密度，电解时间，电解质的流速（FRE），电解质温度和阴极基板对电流效率（CE），碲回收率，电池电压，能耗（EC）和表面形态的影响。在以下最佳条件下获得了99.90％的纯度Te沉积物，而达到了95.61％的CE：电解时间为24 h，电流密度为60 A·m ^-2，FRE为300 L·h ^-1，温度为30°C和316L SS的阴极基板。同时，Te的回收率和EC为82.89％和1810.58 kWh·t ^-1， 分别。此外，由于电解沉积后的溶液是可回收的，因此试剂和液体流出物的消耗最小。所有参数表明，旋风式电解沉积技术可以作为从用过的Te电解质中回收Te的有前途的替代方法。

图形概要