Acid Mist Suppressant: A Non-fluoro Environmentally Friendly Surfactant to Reduce Acid Mist Formation in Copper Electrowinning
摘要
Acid mistAcid mist formationFormation is a significant safetySafety concern during electrowinningElectrowinning operationsOperation and there is significant interest in finding new solutions to this problem due to the discontinuation of an industry standard fluorine-based additiveAdditives. This study discloses that a non-fluorine-based additiveAdditives can be utilized as an environmentally friendly acid mistAcid mist suppressant, low-foaming with no detrimental effect on the cathode qualityCathode quality and solvent extractionSolvent extraction. The effect of these additivesAdditives was laboratory assessed in comparison to the historically used fluorine-based additiveAdditives and an existing natural extract-based surfactantSurfactant. Initial results have shown that these additivesAdditives not only effectively suppress the acid mistAcid mist formationFormation in electrowinningElectrowinning process but also improve cathode qualityCathode quality with no adverse effects on solvent extractionSolvent extraction observed during laboratory trials.