The major objective of the project is to establish the feasibility of using specific ionic liquids capable of sustaining aluminum electrolysis near room temperature at laboratory and batch recirculation scales. It will explore new technologies for aluminum and other valuable metal extraction and process methods. The new technology will overcome many of the limitations associated with high temperatures processes such as high energy consumption and corrosion attack. Furthermore, ionic liquids are non-toxic and could be recycled after purification, thus minimizing extraction reagent losses and environmental pollutant emissions. Ionic liquids are mixture of inorganic and organic salts which are liquid at room temperature and have wide operational temperature range. During the last several years, they were emerging as novel electrolytes for extracting and refining of aluminum metals and/or alloys, which are otherwise impossible using aqueous media. The superior high temperature characteristics and high solvating capabilities of ionic liquids provide a unique solution to high temperature organic solvent problems associated with device internal pressure build-up, corrosion, and thermal stability. However their applications have not yet been fully implemented due to the insufficient understanding of the electrochemical mechanisms involved in processing of aluminum with ionic liquids. Laboratory aluminum electrodeposition in ionic liquids has been investigated in chloride and bis (trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide based ionic liquids. The electrowinning process yielded current density in the range of 200-500 A/m2, and current efficiency of about 90%. The results indicated that high purity aluminum (>99.99%) can be obtained as cathodic deposits. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry studies have shown that initial stages of aluminum electrodeposition in ionic liquid electrolyte at 30DGC was found to be quasi-reversible, with the charge transfer coefficient (0.40).
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
