Electrolysis commercial uses

Another general feature of the low and medium tonnage organic compounds Industry Is that reaction routes are seldom announced and thus our knowledge of electrolytic processes in current commercial operation remains far from complete. It is interesting to note that a US Chemicals Supply House Is reported to use electrolysis routinely while a range of diverse processes have been operated at least on a pilot scale. These include[33-36,30]. 

Electrolysis of lead fluosilicate solutions is well established for lead refining by the Betts process, as detailed in Chapter 13. The principal advantage is the ability to produce a dense cathode deposit rather than a powder deposit. The process has largely been examined for the treatment of secondary lead materials, which are converted either into lead carbonate or PbO from mixed sulfate-oxide residues, and are then leached in fluosiUcic acid. The US Bureau of Mines developed an approach along these lines as an extension of the Betts electrorefining process to electrowinning (Cole, Lee and Paulson, 1981). This approach was also developed and applied on a commercial scale by RSR Corporation in the USA (Prengaman and McDonald, 1990). 

Commercial production of berylHum metal began in 1957 but the market for it has not grown to the size once imagined. Today the US mainly supplies processed beryllium products. Treatment of bertrandite with hot sulfuric add gives a solution containing beryUium sulfate and other metals. Separation occurs by liquid-liquid extraction and ion exchange. After separation, beryllium carbonate is precipitated and can be transformed into different salts and to the oxide. The metal is prepared by reduction of beryUium fluoride with magnesium or by electrolysis of fused beryllium chloride. 

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