WO2021260458A1

WO2021260458A1 - Electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator

Info

Publication number: WO2021260458A1
Application number: PCT/IB2021/054510
Authority: WO
Inventors: Timothy Kelvynge GREENWAY; Johan Hendrik LOOCK; Lourens Francois DE VILLIERS; Dennis Thomas DYZEL
Original assignee: Greenway Timothy Kelvynge
Priority date: 2020-06-23
Filing date: 2021-05-25
Publication date: 2021-12-30
Also published as: ZA202212916B

Abstract

A means for improving recovery of metal compounds by metallurgical processes is disclosed. More particularly, an electrowinning and electrorefining monitoring system and a method of using an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator within said system are disclosed. The communicator comprising an insulating body, that defines a seat for seating an anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell; and, communication means for communicating with a controller to indicate that circumstances at, or in the vicinity of, the insulating body have triggered a set of predefined parameters associated with an electrolytic process environment variable.

Description

ELECTROWINNING AND ELECTROREFINING ENVIRONMENT

COMMUNICATOR

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to means for obtaining metal compounds by metallurgical processes. More particularly, the invention relates to an electrowinning and electrorefining monitoring system and a method of using an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator within said system.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

It is common knowledge that an electrowinning tank house comprises a plurality of electrolytic cells. A typical electrolytic cell comprises a body that forms a tank which is open at its top and contains an aqueous electrolyte. Anodes and cathodes are alternately arranged to hang close to one another and immersed in the electrolyte. The anodes and cathodes in each electrolytic cell are in contact with positive and negative current busbars or rails that run lengthwise of the elongate electrolytic cell.

When the anodes are connected to the positive current busbar and the cathodes are connected to the negative current busbar, the busbars carry electrical current to the electrolytic cell to aid in metal ion migration from the anodes to the cathodes in the case of electrorefining; and from copper rich electrolyte to the cathode in the case of electrowinning.

Anodes and cathodes in electrolytic cells are commonly insulated from each other. This is achieved mainly through use of heat resistant and electric insulating anode or cathode supporting racks also commonly referred to as spacer blocks. Each cathode is spaced from an adjacent anode by locating slots formed in the insulating supporting racks or spacer blocks.

Use of an insulating supporting rack or spacer block is advantageous as it provides electrical isolation and accurate placement of anodes and cathodes in the operation of electrowinning and electrorefining processes. They are typically formed from a heat and electrical resistant material such as rubber or polymer concretes, vinyl ester resins - acid resistant resins.

The applicant believes that the electrowinning and electrorefining process environment can be improved if critical information is obtainable from a variety of positions within the process environment. At present, the applicant is not aware of an insulator block monitoring system apt to obtain data from a myriad of positions within the electrowinning and electrorefining process environment and capable of transferring same to decision makers or control systems in the process.

This invention seeks to, at least in part, address the abovementioned problems by providing an electrowinning and electrorefining monitoring system and a method of using an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator in said system to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a broad aspect of the invention there is provided an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator adapted for use in an electrolytic process environment, said communicator comprising: an insulating body defining at least one seat for seating an anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell; and communication means disposed on, or within, said insulating body for, in use, communication of information to a controller adapted to interpret the communicated information and act thereon to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process within the electrolytic process environment.

In an embodiment of the invention the controller may comprise a software implemented control system for an electrolytic process environment, which control system is adapted to act upon receipt of said communicated information and respond thereto by permitting actuation of process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information; alternatively, the controller may comprise an individual qualified to interpret the communicated information and capable of timeously responding thereto by actuating, or ordering actuation of, process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information.

In an embodiment, the communication means may be adapted to indicate that circumstances at, or in the vicinity of, the communicator have triggered a set of predefined parameters.

In an embodiment, the predefined parameters may be selected from variables selected from the group consisting of temperature, current, acidity, or location.

In an embodiment of the invention, the communication means may comprise at least one transponder; alternatively, at least one transceiver.

In an embodiment, the insulating body may comprise a non-electrical conductive material suitable to provide electrical isolation and accurate placement of anodes and cathodes in the operation of electrowinning and electrorefining processes.

The communication means may be provided with sensor arrangement as well as subsequent data or signal transmission capability. The data or signal capability may be in the form of notifications, warning lights, reports issued either on a live basis or at a later time. The insulating body defining the at least one seat for seating an anode or cathode in the electrolytic cell may comprise a removable base in operative abuttance with said seat thereby permitting the seat to be changed or replaced when required.

The electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator may comprise a power source built into or attached to the insulating body; alternatively, power may be obtained from a local environment

In an embodiment, the electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator may comprise an insulating supporting rack provided with an array of equidistantly spaced apart seats, one or more of said seats comprising communication means as herein described.

In an embodiment, the individual may be selected from the group consisting of tank house operators, plant foremen, shift bosses, engineers, and production managers.

The invention may further extend to an electrowinning and electrorefining monitoring system comprising: an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator as described herein above; and a software implemented controller for an electrolytic process environment, which controller is adapted to act upon receipt of communicated information received from the communicator and respond thereto by permitting actuation of process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information.

Moreover, the invention may extend to an electrowinning or electrorefining process for valuable metal recovery within an electrolytic process environment, which process comprises: use of anodes, cathodes and busbars with the electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator as described herein above; and a software implemented controller for the electrolytic process environment, which controller is adapted to act upon receipt of communicated information received from the communicator and respond thereto by permitting actuation of process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information thereby to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process within the electrolytic process environment.

The invention extends to use of an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator, comprising communication means and an insulating body that defines a seat for seating an anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell, to indicate via said communication means that circumstances at, or in the vicinity of, the insulating body have triggered a set of predefined parameters.

Finally, the invention extends to a method of manufacturing by injection moulding rotor moulding, fabricated by hand, or machined from a solid an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator, comprising communication means and an insulating body that defines a seat for seating an anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example with reference to the accompanying non-limiting representations, wherein:

Figure 1 shows an isometric view of an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator in the form of an insulating supporting rack in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 shows an isometric view of an alternative electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator displaced from but connectable to an ubiquitous insulating supporting rack;

Figure 3 shows an isometric view of the communicator of Figure 1 , positioned for use in an electrolytic cell and seating multiple anodes and cathodes while flanking a busbar; and

Figure 4 shows a diagrammatic view of an electrowinning and electrorefining monitoring system incorporating the communicator of Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The description that follows below is not intended to limit the invention in any way and is provided only to describe a specific embodiment of the invention.

This description is presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show operational details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the Figures making apparent to those skilled in the art how at least one form of the invention may be embodied in practice.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator (10) in the form of an insulating supporting rack, according to an embodiment of the invention, is shown. Commonly used insulating supporting racks are not shown in the drawings, but they may take a shape similar to communicator rack (10). These racks may, in fact, take various shapes and configurations depending on the specific needs on an electrorefining or electrowinning plant.

Communicator (10) of Figure 1 , consists of an insulating body (12) defining multiple seats (20) for seating anodes (14) and cathodes (16) respectively in an electrolytic cell (18), as best illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. The insulating body (12) is manufactured from a non-electrical conductive material suitable to provide electrical isolation and accurate placement of anodes and cathodes in the operation of electrowinning and electrorefining processes.

In fact, two opposing arrays of equidistantly spaced apart seats (20) are shown in Figure 1. One array of seats is disposed adjacent a first longitudinal side of a busbar (22) while another array is disposed in a row opposite the first array adjacent a second longitudinal side of a busbar (22). Each of the seats (20) is provided with communication means (30) for, in use, communication of information to a controller (40) (best shown in Figure 4) adapted to interpret the communicated information and act thereon to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process within the electrolytic process environment. The communication means (30) is adapted to indicate that circumstances at, or in the vicinity of, the communicator (10) have triggered a set of predefined parameters.

It will be appreciated that the communication means (30) is typically of unitary construction and integrally formed with the insulating body (12). However, it is envisaged that in other non-shown embodiments of the invention, also falling within the ambit of the present invention, the communication means (30) may be releasably attached or connected to insulating body (12). The insulating body (12) typically, but not necessarily, consists of multiple castle portions (26) and rigid base portions (24), which base portions (24) are selectively displaceable from the respective castle portions (26). This is believed to aid in speeding up the replacement process of worn components within an electrolytic cell. The communication means (30) can wirelessly communicate with a controller (40) (best shown in Figure 4), preferably via antennas (not shown). Each antenna consisting of a conductor by which electromagnetic waves are sent out and received. The conductor consists commonly of a copper wire or set of copper wires spun around a core of each communication means (30). The communication means (30) is also typically provided with at least one transponder. In other embodiments, each communication means may consist of at least one transceiver. In the latter case, the transceiver may be provided with a data recording arrangement as well as subsequent data or signal transmission capability. The data or signal capability may be in the form of notifications, warning lights, reports issued either on a live basis or at a later time. The communication means (30) can be expected to be wireless and, in some instances, just visible light. In other embodiments, the means (30) may be used with electronic components in an arrangement to perform communication as is normal in existing applications.

The controller (40) typically forms part of a software implemented control system (100) for an electrolytic process environment, which control system (100) is adapted to act upon receipt of communicated information from the communication means (30) and respond thereto by permitting actuation of process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information. It is perceived that current flow can be restricted to certain cathodes or anodes as the circumstances dictate. If for example, the ‘castles’ can be placed comprehensively over the entire busbar (22). Including the castles and the voids where anodes and cathodes contact the busbar (22). If the specific contact gets hot or current increases dramatically at that point, normally this will be at the contact side. Whereas these insulator warning are being implemented at the non-contact end. Then a physical spring or mechanism can either reduce/restrict current flow like a valve or it can be separated so no contact exists. In a simplified embodiment of the invention, the controller is not an automated computerised control system, but rather an individual qualified to interpret the communicated information and capable of timeously responding thereto by actuating, or ordering actuation of, process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information. For example, the information communicated to the controller may in one simple form include a visual warning in the form of light emitting diodes or other light source arranged to emit light to indicate that circumstances at, or in the vicinity of, the communicator 10 have triggered a set of predefined parameters associated with a variable such as, for example, temperature. However, the communicated information is believed to relate to any of a number of variables commonly associated with electrowinning and electrorefining plant operations. Predefined parameters are commonly selected from variables from the group consisting of temperature, current, acidity, copper content, degraded organic content, and location.

The electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator (10) also includes a power source built into or attached to the insulating body (12); alternatively, power may be obtained from the local environment.

It is also envisaged that a dedicated software application, as is known by those skilled in the art, may be written to visualize the placement and status of communication means through a metal recovery process thereby increasing plant operator control and plant management awareness. Management and operators are envisaged to log in at any given time to read recorded data, statistics and live visualization of communication means situated throughout an electrowinning or electrorefining process plant.

The communicator (10) may include tags or chips, but it should be understood that other technologies may be employed in conjunction or as an alternative to tags such as, without limitation, bar code, optical, optical recognition, microelectromechanical systems, active transponder, and radio frequency. An investigation module of the control system (100) allows a tag or chip communication means 30 to be read into a database for recording, which database is interrogatable such that divergences from expected and set values can be detected and remedial action can be taken within seconds. The control system (100) receives signals from the communicator (10) to track, in real time, a geographical location of the communication means (30), which in turn can be shown on any suitable display of a computer or smart device.

While tags, chips, or labels may be able to survive the harsh conditions associated with mining recovery processes, there is yet another challenge directed to attaching a communication means element to an insulating rack body (12). In view of this, the tags or chips are frequently attached to the seat (20) by employing mechanical techniques. A more common form of attachment of a tag or chip to seat 20 is by bonding techniques including encapsulation or adhesion.

A wide range of materials are available, and some provide high strength bonds which are tough, water resistant, low in outgassing, and dimensionally stable over a high temperature range. Some epoxies can withstand repeated radiation, and the hammering associated with movement in a plant environment. The epoxy resin used for attaching the communication means element to the insulating rack body (12) preferably includes methyl acrylate to assist in withstanding these circumstances.

In Figure 2, the base (52) is shown displaced from one communicator (50), in accordance with a further alternative embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, only one of the seats 20 are provided with communication means 30, while the remainder of the anode and cathode seating locations comprise ubiquitous insulating rack base 6 and castle portions 8. The methods and systems described herein is envisaged to be deployed in part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routing devices and other active and passive devices, modules and/or components as known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s) associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM, and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of the network infrastructural elements. The methods and systems described herein may be adapted for use with any kind of private, community, or hybrid cloud computing network or cloud computing environment, including those which involve features of software as a service ("SaaS"), platform as a service ("PaaS"), and/or infrastructure as a service ("laaS").

The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein and elsewhere may be implemented on a cellular network having multiple cells. The cellular network may either be frequency division multiple access ("FDMA") network or code division multiple access ("CDMA") network. The cellular network may include mobile devices, cell sites, base stations, repeaters, antennas, towers, and the like. The cell network may be a GSM, GPRS, 3G, EVDO, mesh, or other networks types.

The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein and elsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile devices. The mobile devices may include navigation devices, cell phones, mobile phones, mobile personal digital assistants, laptops, palmtops, netbooks, pagers, electronic books readers, music players and the like. These devices may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as a flash memory, buffer, RAM, ROM and one or more computing devices. The computing devices associated with mobile devices may be enabled to execute program codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon. Alternatively, the mobile devices may be configured to execute instructions in collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices may communicate with base stations interfaced with servers and configured to execute program codes. The mobile devices may communicate on a peer-to-peer network, mesh network, or other communications network. The program code may be stored on the storage medium associated with the server and executed by a computing device embedded within the server. The base station may include a computing device and a storage medium. The storage device may store program codes and instructions executed by the computing devices associated with the base station.

The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions may be stored and/or accessed on machine readable transitory and/or non-transitory media that may include: computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time; semiconductor storage known as random access memory ("RAM"); mass storage typically for more permanent storage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cache memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such as CD, DVD; removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys), floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAM disks, zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like; other computer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read/write storage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, network attached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and the like.

The methods and systems described herein may transform physical and/or intangible items from one state to another. The methods and systems described herein may also transform data representing physical and/or intangible items from one state to another. The elements described and depicted herein imply logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through computer executable transitory and/or non-transitory media having a processor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any combination of these, and all such implementations may be within the scope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may include, but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants, laptops, personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld computing devices, medical equipment, wired or wireless communication devices, transducers, chips, calculators, satellites, tablet PCs, electronic devices, devices having artificial intelligence, computing devices, networking equipment, servers, routers, and the like. Furthermore, the elements depicted in the drawings may be implemented on a machine capable of executing program instructions. Thus, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified and described above may be varied and that the order of steps may be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various steps should not be understood to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.

The methods and/or processes described above, and steps associated therewith, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The hardware may include a general- purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect or component of a specific computing device. The processes may be realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable devices, along with internal and/or external memory. The processes may also, or instead, be embodied in an application specific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array logic, or any other device or combination of devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that one or more of the processes may be realized as a computer executable code capable of being executed on a machine-readable medium.

The computer executable code may be created using a structured programming language such as C, an object oriented programming language such as C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language (including assembly languages, hardware description languages, and database programming languages and technologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well as heterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, or combinations of different hardware and software, or any other machine capable of executing program instructions.

Thus, in one aspect, methods described above and combinations thereof may be embodied in computer executable code that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps thereof. In another aspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the steps thereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways, or all of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalone device or other hardware. In another aspect, the means for performing the steps associated with the processes described above may include any of the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutations and combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

While the disclosure has been disclosed in connection with the preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present disclosure is not to be limited by the foregoing examples but is to be understood in the broadest sense allowable by law.

The use of the terms "a," "an." and "the" and similar referents in the context of describing the disclosure (especially in the context of the following claims) is to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms "comprising," "having," "including," and "consisting" are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning "including, but not limited to,") unless otherwise noted. Recitations of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein may be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., "such as") provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the disclosure and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the disclosure unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the disclosure.

The subject matter for which patent protection is sought is defined in the accompanying set of claims.

Claims

1. An electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator adapted for use in an electrolytic process environment, said communicator comprising: an insulating body defining at least one seat for seating an anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell; and communication means, associated with an electrolytic process environment variable, disposed on, or within, said insulating body for, in use, communication of information to a controller adapted to interpret the communicated information and act thereon to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process within the electrolytic process environment.

2. The communicator of claim 1 , wherein the communication means is adapted to indicate that circumstances at, or in the vicinity of, the communicator have triggered a set of predefined parameters associated with an electrolytic process environment variable.

3. The communicator of claim 2, wherein the electrolytic process environment variable is selected from the group consisting of temperature, current, acidity, or location.

4. The communicator of claim 3, wherein the communication means comprises a sensor arrangement as well as subsequent data or signal transmission capability.

5. The communicator of claim 4, wherein the data or signal capability is selected from notifications, warning lights, and reports issued either on a live basis or at a later time.

6. The communicator of claim 3, wherein the communication means comprises at least one transponder.

7. The communicator of claim 3, wherein the communication means comprises at least one transceiver.

8. The communicator of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the insulating body comprises a non-electrical conductive material suitable to provide electrical isolation and accurate placement of anodes and cathodes on said at least one seat during functioning of electrowinning and electrorefining processes.

9. The communicator of claim 8, wherein the at least one seat may comprise a removable base in operative abuttance with said seat thereby permitting the seat, and anode or cathode supported thereon, to be changed or replaced as and when required.

10. The communicator of claim any one of the preceding claims, comprising a power source built into or attached to the insulating body for powering said communication means.

11. The communicator of claim any one of the preceding claims, comprising a power source linked to or obtained from a local electrolytic process environment.

12. The communicator of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises a software implemented control system for an electrolytic process environment, which control system is adapted to act upon receipt of said communicated information and respond thereto by permitting actuation of process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information.

13. The communicator of claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises an individual qualified to interpret the communicated information and capable of timeously responding thereto by actuating, or ordering actuation of, process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information.

14. The communicator of claim 13, wherein the individual is selected from the group consisting of tank house operators, plant foremen, shift bosses, engineers, production managers, and plant managers.

15. An electrowinning and electrorefining process related insulating supporting rack or spacer block provided with an array of equidistantly spaced apart seats, one or more of said seats comprising communication means associated with an electrolytic process environment variable, disposed on, or within, said seats for, in use, communication of information to a controller adapted to interpret the communicated information and act thereon to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process within the electrolytic process environment.

16. An electrowinning and electrorefining monitoring system comprising: a software implemented controller for an electrolytic process environment; and an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator comprising: an insulating body defining at least one seat for seating an anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell; and communication means, associated with an electrolytic process environment variable, disposed on, or within, said insulating body for, in use, communication of information to said software implemented controller, which controller is adapted to interpret the communicated information received from the communicator and respond thereto by permitting actuation of process equipment suitable to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process within the electrolytic process environment.

17. An electrowinning or electrorefining process for valuable metal recovery within an electrolytic process environment, which process comprises: use of anodes, cathodes and busbars with an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator comprising: an insulating body defining at least one seat for seating at least one of said anodes or cathodes in an electrolytic cell; and communication means, associated with an electrolytic process environment variable, disposed on, or within, said insulating body for, in use, communication of information to a controller adapted to interpret the communicated information and act thereon to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process within the electrolytic process environment.

18. The process of claim 17, comprising a software implemented controller for the electrolytic process environment, adapted to act upon receipt of communicated information received from the communicator and respond thereto by permitting actuation of process equipment suitable to address the effect of the communicated information thereby to improve overall efficiency of the valuable metal recovery process within the electrolytic process environment.

19. Use of an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator, comprising communication means and an insulating body that defines a seat for seating an anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell, to indicate via said communication means that circumstances at, or in the vicinity of, the insulating body have triggered a set of predefined parameters associated with an electrolytic process environment variable.

20. A method of injection moulding, rotor moulding, or machining from a solid an electrowinning and electrorefining environment communicator, which communicator comprises communication means and an insulating body that defines a seat for seating an anode or cathode in an electrolytic cell.