The technical objectives for this project were to: - Validate the membrane cell concept with a lab-scale electrorefining cell - Determine if previously identified voltage increase issue for chloride electrolytes holds for a fluoride-based electrolyte system - Assess the probability that voltage change issues can be solved and - Conduct a market and economic analysis to assess commercial feasibility.
The electrorefining technology could also be used to produce ultra-high purity aluminum for advanced materials applications. An electrolytic molten aluminum purification process, utilizing a horizontal membrane cell anode, was designed, constructed, operated and validated. This project was aimed at developing an electrorefining process for purifying aluminum to reduce energy consumption and emissions by 75% compared to conventional technology. Electrorefining can also be used to extract valuable alloying elements such as Li from Al-Li mixed scrap. Some example applications include more » producing primary grade aluminum from specific scrap streams such as consumer packaging and mixed alloy saw chips, and recycling multi-alloy products such as brazing sheet. Electrorefining can be used to extract pure aluminum from mixed scrap. Eliminating the need for using primary aluminum as a diluent would dramatically reduce energy requirements, decrease carbon dioxide emissions, and increase scrap utilization in recycling.
Since primary aluminum production requires approximately 10 times more energy than melting scrap, the bulk of the energy and carbon dioxide emissions for recycling are associated with using primary aluminum as a diluent.
Recycling mixed aluminum scrap usually requires adding primary aluminum to the scrap stream as a diluent to reduce the concentration of non-aluminum constituents used in aluminum alloys.
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