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AssigneeCompagnie Royale Asturienne des Mines
InventorsRoger Dekeister, Gilbert Lemaire, Daniel Marzys
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A method and apparatus for electrolytically preparing in an electrolytic cell metal, preferably zinc, in pulverulent form from a compound of the metal, for example, zinc oxide, in an aqueous ionized solution, for example potassium hydroxide of a concentration of 100 to 800 g/l, the solution preferably containing 10 to 350 of zinc per liter. The cathode at the bottom of the electrolytic cell comprises a layer of the same pulverulent metal, for example zinc, into which a grid cathode current input is introduced, the cathode current applied being sufficient to prevent the formation of metal in continuous form, preferably between 8 and 18 A/dm.sup.2. The anode is disposed in the cell above the cathode. New solution is injected about the lower periphery of the cell so as to set the solution and pulverulent metal is turbulent suspension. The suspension is drawn off by a pump and allowed to settle in a settling tank the pulverulent metal being removed by a conveyor screw, the solution spilling over into a storage tank and then being pumped back to the cell and reintroduced by the injectors. A plurality of cells may be arranged in a stack or columns, operating sequentially, and utilizing the same settling tank, associated pumps, and other auxiliary equipment.
Apparatus for preparing a pulverulent metal from a compound of the metal in an ionized solution, comprising an electrolytic cell for containing said ionized solution, a cathode for said cell consisting of a bed of powder of metal to be deposited, said bed being settled at the bottom of said cell, current input means disposed in the midst of said cathode bed for supplying current to said bed of powder, a noncorrodable anode in said cell above the cathode, said electrolytic cell being cylindrical with a vertical axis, a plurality of injectors disposed at regular intervals about the periphery of said electrolytic cell adjacent said cathode, said injectors being tangential to said electrolytic cell and directed so that they all inject said solution in the same angular direction, means for supplying said solution to said injectors, whereby injection of said solution through said injectors causes vortical flow of said solution in said cell with suspension of metal powder in a central portion of said cell, and means for withdrawing said solution with said metal powder suspended therein from said central portion of said cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.