In the electroplating industry our anodes are used for:
Electro galvanising (zinc plating), including steel strip plating;
Precious metal plating (gold, silver, palladium, etc.);
Hard chromium plating;
Tin plating (steel strips);
Copper plating, copper foil production and copper foil treatment and PCB manufacturing;
Aluminium anodising in liquid-contact-cell.
The principle of metal plating is almost identical for all applications. The metal to be plated is dissolved in the electrolyte and the object to be plated is cathodically polarised. With the anodically polarised anodes, the electrical loop is closed. The counter reaction in the plating bath is oxygen evolution at the anode surface.
The advantage of Titanium anodes over non-inert anodes, such as Graphite anodes, is the constant anode - cathode distance (inter-electrode gap) throughout the lifetime of the anodes. Where the inter-electrode gap increases when Graphite anodes slowly dissolve, inert Titanium anodes keep both voltage and product quality constant.
Besides Titanium and Graphite, Lead anodes are also used. Lead dissolving in the electrolyte causes large problems from an environmental point of view, problems that can be avoided by using Titanium anodes.
Oxygen evolving Titanium anodes also have lower anodic operating potentials and hence provide power savings.
Elade anodes are gaining acceptance in the electrowinning industry. Until recently, lead anodes were the accepted anodes of choice for electrowinning applications. However, as industries become more environmentally conscious, alternate technologies are being sought. To that end, Elade developed a titanium Elade anode for Nickel and copper electrowinning. The Elade anode also provide a practical alternative to lead anodes for zinc, and cobalt electrowinning. The advantages of Elade anodes technology over conventional lead anodes are long life, clean operation and power savings.
Metal Recovery Anodes
In order to meet the environmental challenges that electroplaters face, Elade developed a system to recover metals from wastewater streams. Elade continues to support the metal recovery industry and manufactures anodes for other metal recovery systems to meet customer specific needs.
Increasing cost pressures in waste disposal services have led to the rapid development of processes with which the metal flux from heavy metals containing process and wastewater can be drastically reduced, thus contributing to a reduction in the amount of sludge containing heavy metals which have to be deposited, in turn reducing the burden on the environment.
Our anodes are used in processes such as potable water treatment, treatment of process water and wastewater, but also for recovery and separation of valuable or environmentally hazardous materials. For instance:
Electrochemical recovery of metals (Ni, Cd, Cu, Zn, Sn, Ag, Au, etc.);
Direct or indirect oxidation and break-down of organic contamination or cyanide;
Removal of small solid particles by means of electroflocculation;
Electrodialysis, desalination of process water and recovery of several materials;
Softening of water, de-scaling;
The different anodes, used in these processes and systems, are very often designed and developed together with our customers or with specialised research institutes. Our engineers are more than happy to assist you with their knowledge and experience in your search for the ideal anode for your specific application.