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Efficient Electrochemical Recovery of Tellurium from Spent Electrolytes by Cyclone Electrowinning

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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.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51922108), Hunan Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019JJ20031), Hunan Key Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2019SK2061), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52074363), and Qingyuan Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Team Project (No. 2018001) (Typical High Purity Rare Metal Preparation and Industrialization Team).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Qinghua Tian, Jun Li, Xueyi Guo, Dong Li, Ying Yang & Zhipeng Xu

  2. National & Regional Joint Engineering Research Center of Nonferrous Metal Resource Recycling, Changsha, 410083, China

    Qinghua Tian, Jun Li, Xueyi Guo, Dong Li, Ying Yang & Zhipeng Xu

  3. First Materials Co., Ltd., Qingyuan, 511517, China

    Zhipeng Xu

  4. Daye Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd., Huangshi, 435005, China

    Wei Li

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  1. Qinghua Tian
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Tian, Q., Li, J., Guo, X. et al. Efficient Electrochemical Recovery of Tellurium from Spent Electrolytes by Cyclone Electrowinning. J. Sustain. Metall. 7, 27–45 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-020-00317-z

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