OPTIMIZATION OF COPPER ELECTROWINNING AT HIGH CURRENT DENSITIES.

A detailed study of the capital investment and production cost for copper electrowinning plants shows that significant savings in both can be achieved by increasing the current density. From the economic analysis it is determined that the optimum current density which will result in lowest capital investment and lowest operating cost is between 60 amp/sq. ft. and 70 amp/sq. ft. , or at least three times as high as the conventionally employed current density. The specific investment, expressed as /ton-year, is found to be a function of both the current density and plant capacity and has a minimum value at the optimum current density. Empirical equations are developed for the purpose of estimating the capital investment and operating cost for plants of any production capacity operating at any current density.