In the following thesis the influence on the cathodic current density distribution caused by geometrical electrode conditions and chemical anode quality in a copper refining cell was investigated.
In the past a lot of investigations were done to increase the current density. At the moment the highest used average current density is in the range of 330 – 350 A/m². But current density figures of single cathodes in one cell are from lower 200 A/m² to more than 600 A/m². The reason for that are irregular geometrical conditions of the electrodes and bad electrical connections.
Experiments to verify influences of anode and cathode distance due to cathodic copper deposit were done. The standard experiment was with parallel distance between anode and cathode. For further experiments the cathode was canted, bent and different distances were chosen. In addition to this anodes with different qualities were used. Afterwards the current density distribution on the cathode was measured. At the end the results of all electrode conditions and anode qualities were compared with each other.