Effect of solid-liquid stirring on membrane deformation in the slurry electrolysis tank

As a short-process hydrometallurgical technology, slurry electrolysis (SE) collects the stirring that improves the suspension of ore, the membrane bag that acts as purifying, and the cathodic and anodic plates that promote ion migration in one tank. The stirring helps to maintain the ore suspended. As the SE tank is stirred, the membrane bag will deform and become damaged, severely limiting production efficiency. In this research, the one-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) was used to examine the impact of the solid–liquid suspension on membrane deformation, which was based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and solid finite element method (FEM). Through the full 3D quantitative analysis, the database of membrane deformation under various conditions was established. The membrane was extruded to the center during the initial stirring conditions, and the greatest deformation measured 891.66 mm. Primarily, membrane deformation was brought on by the pressure differential brought on by liquid velocity, solid concentration distribution, and liquid level. The maximum deformation of the membrane first decreased and then increased with the increased liquid level difference between the cathode and anode. With the upper fixed constraint, the maximum deformation of the membrane appears at y = 1.2 m. The larger the stirring speed is, the smaller the optimal liquid level difference required to minimize the membrane deformation. The stirring speed changes the overall pressure distribution by changing the dynamic pressure in the anode domain. The maximum deformation of the membrane decreases first and then increases with the increase of electrolyte density in the cathode domain. The membrane bag is extruded to the cathode domain when the pressure in the cathode region is insufficient because of the low electrolyte density in the cathode domain. When the cathode pressure increases, the membrane bag bulges to both sides, and the inner bulge is greater than the outer. With an increase in solid volume concentration (SL) in the anode domain, the maximum membrane deformation first reduces and subsequently increases. When SL = 15%, the membrane deformation reaches the minimum value of 226.7 mm. The closer to the bottom of the tank, the greater the influence of solid content on absolute pressure. The maximum membrane deformation is drastically decreased to 0.664 mm when the frame restrictions are considered. It can support the industrial control process via visual analysis.