THE EFFECTS OF SAPONIN, ANTIMONY AND GLUE ON ZINC ELECTROWINNING FROM KIDD CREEK ELECTROLYTE

The effects of Saponin alone and in combination with antimony and glue on zinc deposition current efficiency and polarization and on the morphology and orientation of 6h and 24h zinc deposits electrowon at 500 A m-2 and 38°C from Kidd Creek zinc electrolyte were determined. Saponin, at concentrations to 100mgl-1, was weakly polarizing, changed the preferred deposit orientation from basal to intermediate and decreased the current efficiency. At optimum glue + antimony levels, Saponin concentrations ≥5mgl-1 resulted in an increase in zinc deposition current efficiency and consistently gave either a <114><112><103><102><101> or a <101><112> preferred deposit orientation depending on the antimony + glue combination used. Tests run for 24h for selected combinations of Saponin, antimony and glue confirmed the results obtained for the 6h studies. © 1990 Chapman and Hall Ltd.