A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Engineering
Johannesburg, 1994 / A quantitative description of galvanic interactions between sulphide minerals based
on thermodynamic and kinetic parameters has been developed. The basis for
quantitative description involves conducting a voltage balance over the galvanic
couple. The contributions to the voltage balance include the galvanic couple cell
emf, kinetic descriptions of the anodic and cathodic half reactions, the voltage
characteristics 'of mineral-mineral contacts and solution voltage losses. The rates of
the anodic and cathodic half' reactions were modelled by the Butler-Volmer equation
and ti1ediffusion equation. A potentiostat was used to vary the voltages losses across
mineral-mineral contacts. TIle galvanic couples were constructed. as rotating ring disc
electrodes and hence electrolyte voltage losses were negligible. Three galvanic
couples, copper-platinum, copper-pyrite and galena-pyrite, were electrochemically
characterised under different conditions of ferric concentration, electrode rotation
rate and temperature. The effect of illumination on the anodic dissolution of galena
was investigated. The electrochemical model is in good agreement with
experimentally measured galvanic currents. Galvanic interaction is a dynamic
function and various models are developed which account for dynamic behaviour in
galvanic cells. / MT2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/22931 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Holmes, Paul Richard |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (136 leaves), application/pdf |
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