A circuit for supplying electrical power (20) at a rated direct current of between 20 kA and 100 kA to an electrolysis cell (21) comprising an upstream busbar (25), a downstream busbar (26), the two upstream (25) and downstream (26) busbars being connected to each other by means of a short-circuiting device (22) which, when closed under the action of an actuating mechanism (229), allows the two busbars to be electrically connected to each other in order to cut off the electrical power supply to the cell (21), an anode bar (213) equipped with an anode connection interface (215) for connection to the anode (211) of the cell, and a cathode connection interface (214) for connection to the cathode (212) of the cell. According to the main features of the invention, the cathode connection interface is connected to the downstream busbar by means of a flexible electrical connector (27), the circuit comprises means for absorbing the movement of the various constituent elements of the circuit due to thermal expansion and a disconnector (23) connected, on the one hand, to the upstream busbar (25) and, on the other hand, to the anode bar (213), the disconnector is opened by an actuating mechanism (239) and electrically disconnects the upstream busbar and the anode bar from each other after a non-zero time interval Tm when the short-circuiting device has been closed, the time interval Tm corresponding to the time of establishment of the rated current in the short-circuiting device (22).

A method for recovering metal zinc from a solid metallurgical waste containing zinc and manganese, may include: (a) bringing the solid metallurgical waste into contact with an aqueous leaching solution comprising chloride ions and ammonium ions to produce at least one leachate including zinc ions and manganese ions and at least one insoluble solid residue; (b) cementing the leachate, by adding metal zinc as a precipitating agent, to eliminate at least one metal other than zinc and manganese possibly present in the leachate as ions and producing a purified leachate; (c) subjecting the purified leachate to electrolysis in an electrolytic cell including at least one cathode and at least one anode immersed in the purified leachate to deposit metal zinc on the cathode and producing at least one exhausted leachate, and, before the electrolysis, precipitating manganese ions by oxidation with permanganate ions and subsequently separating a precipitate including MnO.sub.2.

An electrowinning cell for extracting metals from an electrolyte solution, the electrowinning cell comprising a housing, a solution inlet, a solution outlet, a plurality of anodes, a plurality of cathodes and a product outlet, wherein at least one anode is substantially impermeable and configured to maintain a gap between a lower edge of the anode and the housing, so that fluid flow of solution is directed below the anode, and wherein at least one cathode is secured at a lower edge to the housing to prevent fluid flow below the lower edge of the cathode.

An electrowinning cell includes a first anode associated with a first anode compartment, a cathode in a cathode compartment, a second anode associated with a second anode compartment, a first spacer plate between the first anode and the cathode and a second spacer plate between the cathode and the second anode compartment.

A method for extracting metal and oxygen from powdered metal oxides in electrolytic cell is proposed, the electrolytic cell comprising a container, a cathode, an anode and an oxygen-ion-conducting membrane, the method comprising providing a solid oxygen ion conducting electrolyte powder into a container, providing a feedstock comprising at least one metal oxide in powdered form into the container, applying an electric potential across the cathode and the anode, the cathode being in communication with the electrolyte powder and the anode being in communication with the membrane in communication with the electrolyte powder, such that at least one respective metallic species of the at least one metal oxide is reduced at the cathode and oxygen is oxidized at the anode to form molecular oxygen, wherein the potential across the cathode and the anode is greater than the dissociation potential of the at least one metal oxide and less than the dissociation potential of the solid electrolyte powder and the membrane.

A process for electrowinning a metal using a flow-through electrowinning apparatus can include the steps of: a) conveying an anolyte material and a metal chemical feedstock material along an anolyte flow path within an anolyte chamber; b) conveying catholyte material along a catholyte flow path within a catholyte chamber that has a cathode; c) applying an activation electric potential between the anode and a cathode that is sufficient to electrolyze and liberate metal ions from the metal chemical feedstock material in the anolyte chamber, thereby causing a flux of metal ions to migrate through a porous membrane from the anolyte chamber to the catholyte chamber and a metal product to be formed in the catholyte chamber; and while applying the activation electric potential, extracting a feedstock-depleted anolyte material from the anolyte chamber; and extracting an outlet material comprising the catholyte material and the metal product from the catholyte chamber via a catholyte outlet.

A process for electrowinning a metal using a flow-through electrowinning apparatus can include the steps of: a) conveying an anolyte material and a metal chemical feedstock material along an anolyte flow path within an anolyte chamber; b) conveying catholyte material along a catholyte flow path within a catholyte chamber that has a cathode; c) applying an activation electric potential between the anode and a cathode that is sufficient to electrolyze and liberate metal ions from the metal chemical feedstock material in the anolyte chamber, thereby causing a flux of metal ions to migrate through a porous membrane from the anolyte chamber to the catholyte chamber and a metal product to be formed in the catholyte chamber; and while applying the activation electric potential, extracting a feedstock-depleted anolyte material from the anolyte chamber; and extracting an outlet material comprising the catholyte material and the metal product from the catholyte chamber via a catholyte outlet.

A method for recovering metal resources in coal ash by molten salt electrolysis includes: calcinating the coal ash for decarburization to obtain the decarburized coal ash; subjecting the decarburized coal ash to ball milling to obtain coal ash powders; pressing the coal ash powders to form a plate; placing the plate as a cathode into an electrolyte in a reactor, and performing electrolytic reaction under an oxygen-free condition at an electrolytic reaction temperature of 550° C. to 900° C. in the reactor to obtain a reaction product; and removing the reaction product from the reactor, cooling the reaction product to room temperature in an inert atmosphere, and cleaning the cooled reaction product to obtain a silicon-aluminum based alloy.

A centrifugal molten regolith electrolysis (MRE) reactor that can volatilize and capture volatiles (i.e., .sup.3He or other noble gases) and electrochemically decompose, while under centrifugal action, lunar regolith into oxygen, metals, and semiconductor materials is disclosed. The high-temperature centrifugal MRE reactor comprises four principal components; namely: (1) a rotatable concentric electrolytic cell comprising an outer metallic shell cathode positioned about an inner central drum anode; (2) a motor sized and configured to rapidly spin (rotate) the concentric electrolytic cell reactor about its central longitudinal axis; (3) a stationary (relative to the spinning electrolytic cell) induction coil (connected to an external stationary AC current source) wrapped about, and adjacent to, the rotatable concentric electrolytic cell (for, when selectively energized, melting regolith contained within the concentric electrolytic cell); and (4) a stationary voltage source (for supplying an applied voltage to the concentric electrolytic cell). The centrifugal MRE reactor electrowins metals and oxygen.

A cathode assembly for an electrolytic cell including a cathode block having a second surface and a first surface. The cathode block also including at least one sealing groove opening onto its first surface and a plurality of electrical contact plugs mounted in electrical contact with the first surface of the cathode block. The cathode assembly includes at least one current supply plate in electrical contact with at least one electrical contact plug, and is connected to at least one unit for connection to an electric current source. The cathode assembly includes at least one current supply bar having a coefficient of thermal expansion substantially identical to the coefficient of thermal expansion of the current supply plate and is sealed within the at least one sealing groove while being fastened to at least one current supply plate.