Zinc Ores

ZnS - Sphalerite or zinc blende

(Zn,Fe)S - Marmatite
ZnCO3 - Smithsonite
ZnSiO4 H2O - Hemimorphite or Calamine
 Zinc Ores
Zinc ores range from 2.0 to 7.5 % Zn metal.
Zinc concentrates assay 47 to 60 % Zn, 1.5 to 2.5 %
Pb up to 3.5 % Cu, 3 to 10% Fe about 0.2 % Cd and
29 to 33 % S as well as minor quantities of thallium,
Indium, gallium, germanium, selenium and tellurium.
A zinc concentrate is a powdered material with 50-
95% particles less than 0.07 mm on side, the grains
measuring more than 0.6 m accounting for not over
0.1 to 0.3 %.
Oxide concentrates usually consist of smithsonite and
calmine.
Metallurgy of Zn is divided into two fields:
pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy.
Former is presented by the distillation processes and
the latter by the electrolytic processes. The distillation
processes appeared well before the electrolyte
methods.
Flow Sheet for Pyrometallurgical Extraction of Zn
A mixture of roasted Zn concentrate and anthracite
screenings or coke breeze is charged in to a grog retort
which is then placed in a furnace heated to1400 °C.
In the retort zinc is reduced according to the reaction:
ZnO + CO =Znvapour + CO2
The nose of the retort opens into a condenser of fire clay.
In the condenser, the retort gas cools in contact with its
walls, the droplets run down the sides and fall from the top,
collecting in the pool at the bottom.
The liquid zinc is drawn from the pool as it accumulates
there.
Zinc vapour that escapes from the condenser is precipitated
in the prolong, a sheet-iron extension to the condenser as
dust.
The other oxides present in the charge, such as those of
Cd, Pb and Cu may also be reduced in the retort.
Only Cd and Pb vaporize to an appreciable extent.
Material left in the retort is called the retort residue.
Horizontal retort process is simple but of low capacity
producing metallic zinc contaminated with Cd and Pb.
These retorts are made from 300 to 370 mm in diameter,
with walls 30 to 50 mm thick; thicker walls would hamper
heat transfer inside the charge and slow down the rate of
distillation.
Length should not exceed 1700 to 1900 mm as at a
temperature of 1400 °C the retort will fail under the
bending load.
Condensers and especially retorts must be fire resistant ,
strong and impervous to Zn vapours.
Retorts and condensers are extruded from a damp and
well pugged mixture of fire clay grog and coke.
Green retorts and condensers are dried and fired.
A single charge of such a retort weighs 80 to 90 kg
containing up to 30 kg metallic zinc.
With a distillation cycle of 24 hrs and a liquid zinc yield of
80 to 83 % of the charge weight, a single retort can
produce 25 kg of zinc a day at the most.
An average smeltery have several thousand retorts in
operation simultaneously.
Retort process involves arduous manual labour. The
size of the retort furnace varies with its construction.
Three row furnaces for 240 retorts measure about 20 m
in length, 5.3 to 5.5 m in width and .8 m in height.
The bottom of the furnace is 2.75 m above the floor of
the shop.
Horizontal retorts arrangement
Arrangement of retorts in furnace
As the art of zinc smelting stands at present, the production
of 100 tons of zinc a day requires over 3000 retorts.
The retorts are stacked in vertical rows.
Their closed ends rest on shelves inside the furnace , while
their open ends or noises stick out of the furnace through
openings.
The retorts are inclined towards their noses.
High temperature required for operation has to be distributed
uniformly throughout the furnace space.
Gaseous fuel is used for heating up the furnace.
The basic reaction of zinc distillation is the reduction of solid
zinc oxide with gaseous carbon monoxide.
For the reduction and distillation to proceed at a
sufficiently high rate, the grains of the concentrate
should be small, as this increases the surface area of
the ZnO exposed to the reducing agent.
Too fine a concentrate, would form a very dense bed in
the retort, obstructing the escape of zinc vapours.
Local accumulations of zinc vapours may eject the
charge out of its retort.
The formation of zinc ferrites is no limiting factor, since
the zinc from them can be driven off as easily as from
ordinary zinc oxides.
After the retorts are hand charged, the condensers are
setup and luted in place with a wet mixture called “loam”
and prolongs are put some time after.
Higher iron oxides begin to be reduced to FeO at 640ºC.
Impurities copper, cadmium and lead are easily reduced
at the beginning of the cycle due to the weak affinity of
for oxygen.
Liquid zinc separates out of the retort gas as a slowly
coagulating metallic fog at 830 to 870 ºC.
The equilibrium of vapour pressures above the droplets
is attained at a lower temperature than over the flat
surface of the molten pool.
The retort gas remains in the condenser for 13 to
15seconds and the zinc vapour that escapes from the
condenser into the prolong is precipitated there as
powder due to rapid cooling.
Incomplete condensation of zinc vapours in the
condenser is also due to the changes in the
composition of the retort gas with cooling.

The ratio of CO to CO2, which is at equilibrium at the

temperature of the retort is shifted towards a greater
partial pressure of CO2 due to dissociation of CO:

2CO = CO2 + C

The carbon dioxide partly oxidises the zinc vapours

in the condenser:
CO2 + Zn = CO + ZnO
• When droplets of molten metal have experienced
superficial oxidation they fail to coalesce and blue
powder is formed in the condenser.
The zn vapours, condenser blue powder, Zn oxide and
soot that escape from the condenser precipitate in the
prolong to form prolong blue powder which contains
60 to 70% metallic zinc and 13 to 15% zn as oxide and
carbonate.
Cd is reduced in the retort before Zn and is more
volatile and very little Cd vapour reaches the prolong.
Retort residue carries 10 to 13% of all zinc, gold, silver
and copper as well as excess reduction coal and is
usually retreated for the recovery of its values.
 Distilled zn contains
98-99 % Zn,
up to 1.8 % Pb,
0.05 -0.1 % Fe,
0.004-0.02% Cu
and 0.2-0.4% Cd.

Prolong dust consists of finely divided particles measuring a few

microns in diameter.
It carries from 0.7 to 2.3 % Cd and is treated for Cd recovery.

Condenser dust is produced in limited quantities and carries

about 0.1 % of all Zn and the impurities mechanically carried off
with the gases and returned to the retort.
•Broken retorts are inevitable for the service life of the
retort is 15-25 days at the most.
•Approximate % of distillation products:
Distilled Zn – 82.8;
Prolong dust- 4.8;
Retort residue-6.3;
Broken condensers: 1.1;
Broken retorts:0.7;
loam-3.2;
Losses with gases-1.1;
 Vertical Retort Furnace
• The basic disadvantages of the horizontal retort
process are its intermittent nature, cumbersome
furnaces an difficulty of mechanisation.
• Vertical retort furnace operates continuously and
use s carborundum retorts.
• Powdered carborundum is mixed with 6-12% of
fireclay.
The batch obtained is wettened, pressed in moulds,
dried and fired at 1400 to 1600 ºC.

The refractories retain mechanical strength up to

2000ºC are chemically neutral and are 3-4 times as
heat conductive as grog.

A vertical retort is a shaft rectangular in cross section,

made of SiC blocks or bricks.
Vertical Retort Process 1-Retort 2- gas combustion chamber 3-
charging device 4-discharging device 5- condenser
 Retort is fired with producer gas which is burned in
chambers on either side of the retort.

The heated portion is about 7.5 m high while the internal

dimensions may be 0.3 m by 2.2 m.

The charge is introduced in the form of briquettes from

above through a firebrick chamber called the “charge column”
which also serves to provide an escape for zinc vapour.
The bottom portion of the retorts terminates in a
residue extraction mechanism which is an iron box fitted
with a water seal.
The spent residue is discharged continuously and
retains the original shape of briquettes.
The briquettes are prepared from a mixture of roasted
zinc concentrate, anthracite, coking coal and suitable
binders such as coal tar.
After mixing, the batch is passed through a briquetting
press and heated to 750-900°C.
The coal and tar are coked and the briquettes attain a
strong and porous structure.

Chemistry of the process does not differ from that of the

horizontal retort process.

The rate of heat transfer through the SiC walls of the

vertical retort and the briquetted charge is higher than in
ordinary distillation.

Zn recovery is more complete and its content in the

retort residue is usually under 3 to 5 %.
The normal life of vertical retort is 3 to 5 years and its
productive capacity is 4 to 5 tons of zinc per calendar
day or upto 90 kg per square metre of heated area (as
against 15 kg per square metre of heated area in the
horizontal retort).
Zinc vapour leaving the retort is condensed to liquid zinc
in condensers which are made of fire brick and have
inside partitions to extend the path covered by the zinc
vapours.
85% of zinc is condensed to liquid metal.

The remaining uncondensed zinc vapour and

entrained blue powder passing out of the condenser with
the zinc is recovered as a fine dust.

The scrubbed carbon monoxide gas is pumped back

into the retort setting – which saves about 20% fuel.
Vertical Retort Zinc Condenser
Comparative Performance and Economics of he Horizontal and
Vertical Retort Processes (per ton of zinc)

Variable Horizontal retort Vertical retort

Heating and 2.2-2.39 1.54-1.71
reduction fuel
(coal), tons
Labour, man- 29-43 7.7-12.5
hours
Zinc recovery, % 86.4-87.8 90-94
 Electrothermic Furnace

Though more efficient than the HR process, the VR

process is disadvantageous in that heat has to be
transmitted through the retort walls.
The heating of the charge with in would raise
distillation temperature and consequently zinc
recovery while the walls would remain relatively cold.
 It is also a continuous process with a zinc production
of close to 100 tons per day at an efficiency of 92%
recovery.
Heat is generated internally by resistance to current
flow by the charge in the furnace between sets of
graphite electrodes inserted through the top and
bottom furnace walls.
 The furnace is circular 45 feet high and 7.5 feet in
diameter and constructed of a series of sections of high
and superduty firebrick.
Steel water jackets enclose the lower half of the main
smelting zone of the furnace below the vapour ring.
This annular vapour ring is about in the middle of the
furnace and through it the distilled zinc vapor and furnace
gases pass to the condenser.

The vapor ring and condenser are both lined with SiC bricks.
Charge is primarily ZnO sinter and coke but other Zn bearing
materials such as granules, dross, screenings etc. are also
used.
Furnace is kept full of charge and the time required for the
charge to pass down through and out of the furnace is about
22 hrs.
Electrothermic Smelting Furnace
 Heating is accomplished by the resistance of the
charge to the current flow between eight equispaced
pairs of graphite electrodes, one of the sets of pairs is
situated near the top of the shaft and other set of pairs
is close to the bottom.
Total power to the furnace will be 10,000 kW at 200-
230 volts and resistance heating gives a temperature in
the center of the furnace 1200-1400°C and
temperature of 1300°C at the lower electrode elevation.

The gases escape from the furnace at 850°C :

45% Zn vapour and 45% CO and the remainder N2, H2
and CO2.

The condenser is situated below the vapour ring is U-

shaped with a vertical inlet and outlet.
The bottom part of the U- is the liquid zinc pool and
furnace gases are drawn in to this to increase the pool
volume operating under a vacuum of 25-30 cm Hg.

 This zinc is tapped periodically and cast into slabs or

goes to the refinery.

The gases pass through the condenser and in to a

high velocity water scrubber for the removal of
entrained solids and blue powder.

This slurry is treated to recover the solids which are
briquetted and returned to the furnace.
The clean gas (80% CO) is piped as a fuel.
The spent residue from the bottom of the furnace
consists of coke, sinter residue and liquid slag.
A rotating table is provided at the bottom of the furnace
for the removal of spent residue.
 Zinc Blast Furnace
Introduced in 1950.
Largest production unit → 300 tons
HR … … 0.06 tons
VR … …10.0 tons
 elec.-thermic furnace … 100 tons

Charge hot lump sinter, preheated coke & small

addition of lime
 Sinter analyses≈ 42% Zn & 20% Pb
Coke 5 & 7.5 cm coke preheater 800°C.
 Accurate proportioning (coke, sinter and
hard burned lime) → important.
Imperial Smelting Furnace
 rectangular in shape → rounded ends → Pb blast
furnace.
Upper part of the furnace → fire brick-lined steel shaft,
lower part → hollow water cooled steel jackets.
Two stoves are used → air to 950°C operates on a 40
min ‘on blast’ cycle & 30 min firing cycle.
Dome shaped roof supports two double bell & hopper
charging units
Cold air is introduced between the two bell valves to
prevent gas leakage.
4-equispaced top air inlets located in the furnace sides
above charge level.
Preheated air is bled from tuyere bustle pipe through
these inlets.
This air burns CO & raises temperature of whole
gaseous mixture at this location → 100°C.
Resultant temperature →1050°C is too high to reoxidise
Zn metal vapour
It passes out through two off takes located opposite
each other just under domed roof in to condensers
Mixed sinter of PbO & zinc oxide is used in the BF in the
proportion of about two zinc to one lead.
The reduction of ZnO to metal is endothermic but the
reduction of PbO is slightly exothermic:

PbO = CO =Pb + CO2

CO gas diluted with CO2 gas from lead reduction, but
still high enough in CO to preheat coke and tuyere air
blast.

Furnace gases :20% CO and 12% CO2.

Liquid along with precious metals, Cu, other reduced

trace metals & slag flows to bottom of furnace
Tapped every one and half hours through a water cooled
copper tapping block into a fore hearth.
Slag runs over top into a granulation system & from
these goes to the dump.
Metal values in slag : 5% Zn and 0.5% Pb.
Two lead splash condensers → connected to gas off
takes on either side

Curtain of Pb droplets by rotor blades absorbs heat from

vapour & reduces 550°C.
Zn vapor is quickly condensed to liquid metal &
absorbed in liquid lead.
Common type of condenser three stages, with four
in first stage, two rotors in second stage & two in third
stage.
Rotors are rotating vertical shafts with blades dip into
pool of Pb bottom of condenser & throw up the
condensing & collecting spray of metal droplets.
Droplets small size maximum liquid to
vapour contact
Droplet size shape of the rotor blades
immersion depth of blades
speed of rotation.
Hot Pb with Zn in solution is run at 550°C from
condenser through an under flow baffle forming a gas
seal in to a cooling launder.
Hot Pb as it leaves condenser contains ≈ 2.5% Zn and
is unsaturated;
cooled down to 440°C in the launder, Pb has less
solubility for Zn and is saturated at 2.25% Zn.
Excess Zn containing 1.2% Pb rises as liquid layer
above Pb in a mild steel quiescent separation bath,
overflows continuously from here & into a heated Zn
holding bath.
 Pb from separation bath runs by gravity under a weir, holds
back separated Zn layer & returns to metal pool in condenser

Cooling duty in condenser is heavy & this cooled Pb is quickly

reheated by great amount of heat it absorbs from entering
hot furnace gases.
For heat extraction requirements 400 tons of Pb must be
circulated through closed system- condenser, cooling launder
& separation bath/ for a furnace output rate of 300 tons of Zn
per day, 120,000 tons of Pb must be circulated.
Furnaces gases leaving condenser at 450°C & low
in temperature as to carry minimum amounts of
uncondensed Zn.

Gases pass through two stages of cooling:

washing in spray towers
mechanical scrubbers,
producing a clean gas below 40 °C.
Solids removed are returned to the sinter plant
Gas containing 20% CO used as fuel in the coke
preheater and BF stoves.
 Zinc Vertical Fractional Distillation
To remove Pb & Cd impurities 98%-99.995%+
Priciple: Divergent boiling points
Pb (1620°C), Zn (907°C) & Cd (778°C)
 Zn & Cd vaporised in 1st column at 1220°C Pb
remains liquid in two-column vertical unit
 In second column at 850°C, Zn remains as liquid
Cd vaporises.
Liquid Zn runs from vertical retort /electrothermic
furnace condenser through a launder to a holding
furnace & from there to 1st distillation column.
Vertical Fractional Distillation
Section Through Fractional Distillation Column
 25 tons Zn is fed into circuit & 15 tons recycled Zn
from 1st column total of 40 tons per day being treated.

Recycled 15 tons: Pb, Fe & other high boiling point

impurities that flow out in to a two compartment holding
pot is separated by liquation.
First compartment is cooled to settle out a high density
Pb layer & Zn-Fe dross with liquated Znnc now
reasonably free of Pb and Fe overflowing into the
second compartment and back to the initial holding
furnace for feeding into the distillation column.
Each of the two distillation columns is made of 50
rectangular silicon carbide trays, 2 feet by 4 feet and 6
inches deep.
These trays are super imposed to fit tightly together and
prevent vapour leakage.
These are adopted to hold a pool of metal, the depth of
which is set by an overflow dam around a 3 inch
diameter opening near the end of the tray.
The trays are stacked with the openings on successive
trays alternatively from side to side so that the metal
overflow from one tray is caught on the tray below and
the descending flow of metal follows a zigzag path
downward from tray to tray.
The design facilitates heat transfer and provides an
extremely large surface from which the vapour can
escape as the whole tray is covered with molten metal,
but only to a shallow depth as each tray is an
independent unit.
The ascending metal vapours follow the same
path upward as the liquid takes downward, so
that here is good liquid-vapour contact and liquid
scrubbing of the vapour as it passed up through
the column.
Liquid zinc from the holding furnace runs into the
first so called “lead column” in a steady stream at
a height of two or three trays above the top of the
heating furnace, and this flow is regulated to
ensure that all the trays are full of metal and over
flowing steadily into the trays below, in order that
no tray may run dry or become overheated.
The design of the trays differs somewhat inside the
furnace in that these “distilling trays” have a trough
extending around the outer periphery and a raised
center, to present the maximum amount of heated tray
wall to the liquid zinc and at the same time to have a
greater holding capacity for the liquid feed.
The “refluxing trays”, positioned above the furnace are
flat with no peripheral trough and hold a much smaller
quantity of liquid metal.
Controlled cooling (refluxing) takes place in these upper
trays with some condensed liquid metal from the rising
vapour phase produced in the furnace zone collecting
and overflowing to run down from tray to tray.
The vapour phase passes off at the top of the lead column
consists of two thirds of the zinc fed in and all of the Cd and
this travels into a second so called “Cd column”.
Two “Pb columns” can operate in series with one “Cd
column”, as the greater amount of impurities are removed in
the first processing stage and a much smaller amount of
material is treated in the second stage.
The design and operation of the “ Cd column” is essentially
the same as that of the “Pb column” except for the lower
furnace temperature and the fact that all the trays are flat type
similar to those used in the upper refluxing section of the “Pb
column”.
To ensure adequate refluxing, a condenser is set
on top of the column of trays and the vapour
passing through this condenser goes into a
second , smaller condenser to give a Zn-Cd alloy
containing 15% Cd.

The Zn metal running out of the bottom of the Cd

column is special high-grade Zn, 99.995% pure
and is used for applications such as die casting
alloys which requires this type of purity.
 Liquation
o Used to separate Pb and Fe from retort Zn but has no
effect on Cd.
o The principle of this refining operation is to reheat or
melt the zinc in a reverberatory furnace and then allow
the temperature to drop to near the freezing point.
o Pb in excess of that soluble in the Zn at the lower
temperature will now settle out as a liquid layer on the
bottom of the and can be withdrawn.
o Zn purity can be increased from 98% to 99% with Pb in
the Zn being decreased from 2% to 1% and iron
decreased from 0.1% to 0.025%.
o A two compartmented reverberatory furnace is used
fired with coal and kept short of air to have a reducing
atmosphere above the liquid metal bath to prevent Zn
Slab zinc is added to the large compartment of he
furnace and melted at temperature above 800°C at
which temperature the Pb and Zn are completely
miscible.

The furnace is then cooled to slightly above 418°C at

which point the eutectic temperature is reached and Zn
will dissolve only 0.85% Pb.

The excess Pb over this eutectic quantity comes out of

solution and settles as a bottom layer in the furnace.

The Pb is still quite fluid at this temperature because of

its low melting point 327°C and is easily tapped from the
furnace.
Flow Sheet for Hydrometallurgical Extraction of Zn
 Leaching of Zinc Concentrates
 The primary purpose of leaching a zinc concentrate is
to dissolve zinc oxide:
ZnO + H2SO4 = ZnSO4 + H2O
 Process is complicated due to the dissolution of
unwanted elements and compounds which have an
adverse effect on the electrolysis and recovery of
zinc.
 A two prong approach is adopted for leaching operation:
 Firstly to minimise the amount of impurities passing into
solution;
 Secondly to purify the solution.
 Many of the impurities can be reduced in amount or
eliminated by neutralising the zinc sulphate solution with
ZnO, with the formation and precipitation of ferric
hydroxide.
 Iron purification is usually carried out simultaneously with
leaching.
Any ferrous iron present is first oxidised to the ferric state with
manganese dioxide and by hydrolysing the ferric sulphate:

2FeSO4 + MnO2 + 2H2 SO4 = Fe2 (SO4)3 + MnSO4 + 2H2 O

Fe2 (SO4)3 + 2H2O = 2Fe(OH)SO4 + H2 SO4

First reaction is possible in an acid medium; therefore the iron has to be

oxidised at the beginning of the leaching operation.
The second reaction is feasible only at the end of the leaching when the
acid has been depleted and the solution is almost neutral.
As and Sb are removed from the solution simultaneously with iron.
Good elimination of the two impurities is obtained if the
amount of iron present is 10 to 20 times that of As and
20 of 40 times that of Sb.
Complete recovery of Zn is requires an excess of
sulphuric acid.

On the other hand the solution should be neutral

towards the end of the leaching operation if the iron is to
be withdrawn successfully.

To meet these conflicting requirements, the leaching

operation is carried out in two stages (double leaching).
First roasted concentrate is treated with acid solution of
ZnSO4 containing about 100 to 130 gm of Zn per litre of
and 1 to 5 gm of free sulphuric acid per litre, and it is
used for neutral leaching.
Rate of leaching depends on the concentration of acid.
Other factors affecting leaching are temperature, the
grain size of the roasted concentrate, agitation etc.

Equipment for leaching may be either air-operated or

mechanical.

Air operated Pachuka tank is a tall cylinder with a

conical bottom made of wood or steel plate.

The tank measures 3 or 4 m in diameter and 6 to 8 m in

height and has a capacity of up to 100 cu m.
A wooden pipe opened at both ends is placed centrally.
Compressed air under a pressure of about 2 atm is
supplied to its bottom end.

Pulp is fed into the tank from above and overflows

continuously as it fills the tank at a level somewhat
below the top end of the central pipe.

Bubbling through the pulp, the air raises the level of the
pulp causing it to flow out of the pipe and in to the tank.

Bubbling through the pulp, the air raises the level of the
pulp causing it to flow out of the pipe and in to the tank.
Pulp is continuously drawn in to the pipe from below.
As a result pulp is made to circulate in the tank.
Pachuka Tank
Leaching methods may be divided in to batch and
continuous systems.
In batch leaching a mixture of roasted concentrate and
solvent is charged into a tank, agitated for a prescribed
period of time, worked up with additions of calcine and
discharged.
Its advantage is that elimination of impurities is more
complete.
It suffers from some waste of time on filling and
discharging the tanks.
In continuous leaching the pulp passes through several
leaching tanks in succession.
Batch system uses mechanically agitated tanks and the
continuous system air agitated tanks.
Purification of Neutral Zinc Sulphate Solution
Impurities such as Cu, Co, Fe, As and Sb may
appreciably reduce current efficiency in subsequent
electrolysis.

In the presence of some ions such as As, Sb and Co

the cathode deposit will be rough and of low density.

Neutral solution be purified of its copper and cadmium

prior to elctrolysis.

The principal reaction of Cu and Cd elimination is that

of electrolytic reduction.
 Electrolytic Precipitation

Zinc sulphate leach solution after purification is

pumped to storage house and flows from there to the
electrolytic cells for precipitation:
ZnSO4 + H2O + e = Zn + H2SO4 +0.5 O2
As electrolysis proceeds and the acid strength rises to
150 to 200 gpl some of this high acid solution is
withdrawn from the cells and sent to the acid storage
tanks from where it will be recycled to the leach circuit
for reuse.
This withdrawn solution is replaced in the cells by
fresh neutral leach solution, which reduces the cell
acid strength to about 115 gpl, the normal range for
electrolysis.
The fresh leach solution in addition to being low in H2SO4 carries
from 100 to 160 gpl zinc as zinc sulphate.

Electrolysis removes from 50 to 70% of this by deposition of Zn

metal on the cathodes, depleting the solution to about 50 gpl and
the remaining Zn sulphate content is withdrawn in the high acids
solution recycled to the leaching circuit and forms a consistent
circulating load.

The cells are constructed of Pb- lined concrete and have typical
dimensions of 15 feet long by 2.8 feet wide by 5.5 ft deep.
These cells can be arranged in cascades of 6 to 12 cells each so
situated that solution will flow by gravity from the highest “head”
cell of each cascade to the second from the second to the third and
so on down the series with the last cell discharging in to a launder.
A cell room has 300-400 cells divided in to 2 or 4 units, with each
unit having its own electrical circuit for flexibility.

Cell temperature is important and is held at 35 to 45ºC by

circulating water through lead coils placed in each cell .

High temperatures intensifies the bad effect of impurities in the

cell; and as heat is generated during electrolysis, the cooling coils
are needed to keep this heat with in reasonable limits.

Anodes are fabricated form 99 % Pb -1% Ag sheet (1.25 cm thick)

are inert to the electrolyte solution.

A cell typically has 46 anodes and 45 cathodes and smaller sized

cell has 28 anodes and 27 cathodes.

Most plants operate with a current density in the range of 20-40

asf of cathode area, with variations at different plants ranging from
20 to over 100 amps.
 The voltage required for the electrolysis of a zinc
sulphate solution is theoretically 2.35 volts, but in actual
practice 3.25 to 3.5 volts is required due to current loss
and leakage throughout the electrical circuitry.
The decomposition voltage of zinc sulphate is above that
of hydrogen, and normally it would be expected that
hydrogen would evolve instead of Zn.
However, hydrogen over voltage w.r.t. Zn in an acid
solution is high enough to let zinc plate out of the zinc
sulphate solution without the evolution of a great amount
of hydrogen at the cathode.
Ampere efficiency : 87- 94%; Cathodes are pulled from
the cells every 24 48 hours to strip off the layer of
deposited zinc and 99.995 % pure.