Voltammetric and electrodeposition study for the recovery of antimony from effluents generated in the copper electrorefining process

Antimony is a metalloid with limited availability as primary resource, but it commonly found an impurity in effluents generated the copper metallurgy. Thus, development of clean and selective processes to recover antimony from these wastewaters would improve sustainability production. In this work, emulated effluent electrorefining industry that contains hydrochloric acid was characterized by means voltammetric electrodeposition tests using two different cell configurations: static cell, dynamic rotating disk electrode (RDE). Voltammograms were obtained at varying concentrations, inversion potentials, scan rates RDE rotation rates. Two main conclusions drawn: (a) deposition mass transfer-controlled process; (b) increase concentration improves antimony. The diffusion coefficient species applying Randles-Ševčík Levich equations; both them providing very similar values (5.29 ± 0.20 · 10−6 cm2 s−1). effective highly concentrated solutions demonstrated. surface examination electrodes revealed compact adherent deposits could be under operating conditions minimize hydrogen evolution reaction potentiostatic galvanostatic modes. Intensified convective regimes supply dissolved towards surface, thus leading notorious current density and, consequently, rate deposition.