Hydrodynamic Simulation of Two Phase Flow in an Industrial Electrowinning Cell

Electrowinning is the process of copper deposing from the intracellular electrolyte solution to the cathode by creating an electric current. In the present study, the hydrodynamic simulation of the electrowinning cell of Miduk Copper Complex is studied using computational fluid dynamics. Ansys-CFX software is used for this modeling. Navier Stokes and continuity equations are considered as the two-phase fluid and gas, turbulent, incompressible and steady states and the equation for copper concentration in the electrolyte will be solved with consideration of its specific boundary condition. Turbulence will be modeled using the k-ω method. The general and local simulations have been used together due to the large variation in the properties, close to the cathode and anode, and the large volume of the cell, to create a good mesh and increase the speed and accuracy of the solution. First, in general simulation, the entire geometry of the cell is modeled by creating a suitable mesh. Then in the local simulation, only the volume between the two cathodes of the cell is considered and modeled with higher precision. Data on boundary conditions in the local simulation of interface boundary are obtained with general simulation data, which increases the accuracy of modeling. Comparison of the results of general and local simulations shows an accuracy of up to 30% in close to the electrodes. The results of this simulation are the velocity vector, the concentration of acid and copper, the turbulence intensity, pressure and the volume fraction of the oxygen phase in the whole of the electrowinning cell. Finally, the model has been validated by experiments on the real cells. The results show the high accuracy of this modeling technique with less than 2.5% deviation.