Effects of 2-picoline on zinc electrowinning from acidic sulfate electrolyte

The behavior of 2-picoline with and without antimony during electrowinning of zinc from acidic sulfate solutions was studied and was compared with that of gum arabic, which is commonly used in industry as a leveling agent. The effects of these additives on current efficiency, power consumption, deposit quality, polarization behavior, crystallographic orientation, and surface morphology were determined. The addition of 2-picoline reduced current efficiency, increased power consumption, and lowered the surface quality of electrowon zinc. Addition of antimony increased current efficiency, reduced power consumptio, and produced improved surface morphology and crystal orientations, (101) (112) (102) (103) (114) over a wide range of their combinations.