Titanium Basket Anodes for Metal Refining and Winning

Abstract

Titanium baskets have been used for many years to contain anode materials for electroplating. They have proved reliable and economical, particularly in nickel plating. This paper describes some aspects of the extension of this system into the field of metal refining, where relatively impure metal is contained in the anode basket and is refined by the dissolution and plating processes. In both these cases the principal anode reaction is the solution of metal. It has also recently been discovered that materials on which the principal anode reaction is evolution of oxygen may continue to function as anodes when contained in a titanium basket, and the application of this principle to metal-winning is described. Finally some aspects of the design of a suitable basket for operation in a commercial electrolytic tankhouse are considered.