FAQ: Operating Cost of emew Electrowinning Plant

In this video we answer questions about how to size your emew plant, what are typical delivery times for emew equipment, and what is the cost of an emew plant.

Q1: What information do you require to size an emew plant?

A1: In order to properly size an emew plant, you need to be able to provide the production rate, the concentration of target metal in solution and the impurity profile of the electrolyte.

Q2: What are typical delivery times for emew equipment?

A2: The delivery time depends on the scope of supply and the agreed upon Incoterms, however ex-works delivery time typically ranges from 8 to 26 weeks.

Q3: What is the cost of an emew plant?

A3: The cost of an emew plant depends on the application and the production rate.  For example, an emew powder plant is typically more expensive than a plating plant due to the high degree of automation coupled with larger anodic area.  For copper, an emew plant is typically within 5-10% of the cost of conventional electrowinning cells while offering significant advantages in terms of production rate, product purity, health and safety, low minimum economic investment and incremental expansion capability.  

Q4: What is the power consumption of an emew plant?

A4: The DC power consumption in any electrowinning cell is dependent on the cell voltage and the current efficiency.  The cell voltage depends on a variety of factors including the conductivity and temperature of the solution, the electrode gap and the current density.  The current efficiency on the other hand is impacted by the cathodic area, voltage and metal concentration.  Another consideration is that you need to supply AC power to the rectifier and the conversion to DC power is not 100% efficient.  Plus you also need to account for the power consumed by the pump to circulate the electrolyte through the cells.  As a general rule of thumb, for copper the power consumption is approximately 2.5 kWh/kg.