GB194639A - Electrolytic iron - Google Patents

Abstract

194,639. Eustis, F. A. Dec. 22, 1921. Iron salts.-In order to produce an electrolyte for the deposition of the metal, iron oxide, which may be in the form of a natural or roasted ore, is dissolved by a weakly-acid solution of a ferrous salt, such as the chloride or sulphate; this solution is said to be an efficient solvent for ferric oxide. To obtain the solvent, a ferric solution, which may be drawn from the anode compartment of the depositing vat A, is reduced by an agency which simultaneously produces free acid; for instance, reduction may be effected by electrolysis in a separate vat, or by treatment with sulphur dioxide in a tower L. The gas may be generated by roasting the ore in a furnace K, from which the ore is delivered into a lixiviating tank B. A suitable temperature for lixiviation is 70‹ C. The ore should be finely-divided, and the counter-current principle may be utilized in the lixiviating tank. As the ore solution contains ferric salts, the greater part, after filtration, is returned to the reducing tower L. The rest of the solution, optionally after treatment with scrap iron, is neutralized and freed from ferric salts by limestone in a tank D. It may then be heated nearly to the boiling-point before entering the cathode compartment of the depositing vat A. Specifications 194,638 and 196,334 are referred to.