Some Experiences in Electro-winning of Aluminium from Fused Chloride Bath

Abstract

Although the electro-winning of aluminium from out of a fused chloride bath dates back to 1854, When Bunsen first isolated the metal, the interest in the process since then has been sporadic. Earlier work in this labo-ratory had not'only confirmed the results reported in the-literature, but had gone a step ahead in proposing and conducting electrolysis on extended time schedule with periodic additions of the trichloride. This work however was conducted at an optimum temperature of 400°C i.e. below the melting point-of the metal which was obtained mostly as loosely adherent flakes. The recovery of such a deposit had been problematical and the cell operation had to interrupted because the fluffy deposit would soon accumulate to short circuit the electrodes. Further it would drop off the c athode while the same was being removed, thus further complicating the procedure.