LAUSR

Abstract The effect of electrical potential on refining capacity was studied to overcome the limit of sulfur removal by slag treatment. Cyclic voltammetry analysis indicated that electrochemical desulfurization enhances the refining capacity by applying an electric potential between liquid Cu and a CaO-SiO2-Al2O3 slag system at 1773 K. The correlation between the external potential and the sulfur partition ratio showed that the external potential enhanced the latter. Experimental results suggested that it is difficult to quantitatively evaluate the effect of the electrical desulfurization by means of the ideal correlation between the electrical potential and the sulfur partition ratio based on the Nernst equation because of the IR drop. Further, the IR drop alone was not sufficient to account for the correlation between the electrical potential and the sulfur partition ratio. Therefore, the relationship between the structural properties of slag and the effect of electrical desulfurization based on the electrochemical mechanism of sulfur refining is discussed in detail.