As a basic industry of the national economy, the non-ferrous metal industry is experiencing a profound
change from traditional manufacturing to intelligent production. Among them, copper electrolysis as the
core process of copper refining, its automation technology breakthroughs and popularization, is
reconfiguring the industry's production logic. This article will deeply analyze the innovation direction,
application value and future trend of copper electrolysis automation technology, and reveal its strategic
significance to the industry's high-quality development.
Technical pain points and automation needs of copper electrolysis process
Copper electrolysis is a process in which the metal ions in the crude copper at the anode are deposited to the cathode
to form high-purity copper through the action of direct current. The traditional process has long faced three major
challenges:
Sloppy control of process parameters: key indicators such as electrolyte temperature, acidity, copper ion concentration,
etc. rely on manual monitoring, and dynamic adjustments lag behind, leading to fluctuations in current efficiency
(generally below 96%).
High production loss: short circuit identification of pole plate is not timely, and residual pole treatment is not thorough,
resulting in an increase of 200-300kWh in electricity consumption per ton of copper, and the loss rate of anode mud exceeds 3%.
Operational safety risks are prominent: the average annual rate of workplace accidents is as high as 0.8 per thousand
in the scenario of manual contact with high-temperature electrolyte and handling of heavy-loaded pole plates.
These pain points force the industry to upgrade: through automation technology to achieve precise control, intelligent
decision-making and unmanned operation, has become a key path to enhance the competitiveness of copper smelting.
Four core changes driven by automation technology
1. Electrolyzer intelligent control system - from “experience-driven” to “data-driven”.
Deploying a multi-parameter sensor network to collect real-time data such as electrolyte temperature (±0.5℃ accuracy),
copper ion concentration (detection cycle ≤30 seconds), tank voltage (0.1mV error), etc. Based on machine learning
algorithms, a dynamic optimization model is established;
Based on the machine learning algorithm, a dynamic optimization model is established to automatically adjust the
circulating flow of electrolyte and the dosage of additives, so that the current efficiency is increased to more than 98.5%;
Case: After the application of a 200,000-ton electrolysis workshop, the DC power consumption of tons of copper
was reduced to 2,200kWh, with an annual cost saving of more than 40 million yuan.
2. Polar plate handling robot cluster - breaking through the limit of manual work
Adopting 3D vision positioning robotic arm to realize automatic stripping of pole plate, with the residual pole rate
controlled within 0.8%;
AGV unmanned vehicle and intelligent overhead crane work together to improve the efficiency of pole plate transfer
by 300% and reduce the manpower demand by 70%;
The automatic anode plate shaping unit compresses the flatness error of the pole plate from 5mm to 1mm, and the
incidence of short circuit is reduced by 90%.
3. Digital twin platform - transparent management of the whole process
Construct virtual mirror image of electrolysis workshop, real-time mapping of equipment status, energy consumption
distribution and production progress;
Predict the trend of electrolyte composition change through simulation, and warn the additive replenishment
demand 12 hours in advance;
Managers can view production KPIs (current efficiency, copper cathode pass rate, etc.) via mobile, increasing
decision-making response speed by 80%.
4. Integration of green manufacturing technology - a win-win situation for both environmental protection and benefits
Intelligent exhaust gas capture system reduces acid mist escape rate from 15% to 2%, reducing sulfuric acid
consumption by 800 tons per year;
Electrolysis waste liquid online recovery device realizes the recovery rate of copper, nickel and other metals >99.5%;
Fully automatic water recycling system reduces water consumption from 8m³ to 2.5m³ per ton of copper.
Challenges and breakthrough path of industry transformation
Despite the significant technological dividend, the promotion at this stage is still facing realistic resistance:
Technology integration barriers: poor compatibility of the interface between traditional equipment and intelligent
systems, the transformation cycle is as long as 6-12 months;
Initial investment pressure: automation upgrade of 10,000-ton electrolysis workshop needs to invest 120-180
million yuan, and SMEs have difficulties in financing;
Shortage of composite talents: the shortage of technical teams that know both metallurgical process and
automation is 40%.
Cracking the predicament needs to build a three-way synergistic ecology:
Equipment vendors: the development of modular solutions to support the phased implementation (such as
priority deployment of pole plate robot);
Research institutions: research on low-cost sensors, high-precision control algorithms and other
common technologies;
Government: include copper smelting automation in the technical reform subsidy catalog, provide tax
incentives and financing support.
Future trend: from automation to intelligence
With the deep integration of industrial Internet, 5G and AI technologies, copper electrolysis will show three
major development directions:
Autonomous decision-making system: intelligent control model based on deep reinforcement learning to
achieve self-optimization of process parameters and reduce manual intervention;
Predictive maintenance network: prediction of equipment failure through vibration, temperature and other
data, reducing maintenance costs by 30%;
Zero-carbon plant construction: direct photovoltaic power supply + waste heat recovery system coupling,
driving down the carbon emission intensity of tons of copper to 0.8tCO₂.
Conclusion
Copper electrolysis automation is not only the upgrading of production tools, but also the reconstruction of
industry value logic. It opens up a new path of sustainable development for the non-ferrous metal industry
by improving resource utilization (copper recovery rate exceeding 99.98%), reshaping manpower structure
(engineers replacing operators), and reducing environmental load (wastewater emission reduction by
60%). In this change, the enterprises that take the lead in completing the digital transformation will
grasp the core discourse power of the global copper industry chain.