Experimental Validation of a Computational Fluid Dynamics Model of Copper Electrowinning

The hydrodynamics that occur in the space between the electrode plates in copper electrowinning (EW) are simulated using a computational fluid dynamics model (CFD). The model solves for the phases of gas oxygen bubbles and electrolyte using the Navier–Stokes equations in a CFD framework. An oxygen source is added to the anode, which sets up a recirculation pattern. The gradients in copper near the cathode lead to buoyancy forces, which result in an uplift in the electrolyte close to the cathode. This study investigates the experimental validation of the CFD model using a small/medium-scale real EW system. The predicted fluid velocity profiles are compared with the experimental values, which have been measured along various cross sections of the gap between the anode and the cathode. The results show that the CFD model accurately predicts the velocity profile at several heights in the plate pair. The CFD model prediction of the gas hold-up and the recirculation pattern is compared with visualizations from the experiment. The CFD model prediction is shown to be good across several different operating conditions and geometries, showing that the fundamental underlying equations used in the CFD model transfer to these cases without adjusting the model parameters.