Electrometallurgy

Electrometallurgy is the branch of the Métallurgie which consists in employing the contribution of energy in electric form like essential component of the development or the transformation of Minerais, Métaux, Alliages,…

This contribution of electricity is generally used to produce the high temperatures necessary for the chemical reactions concerned, or the fusion of certain components of the reactive medium.

Here some examples of industrial products being able to be obtained by electrometallurgy:

the Silicon
ferrosilicon
the Magnesium (but there also exists of the processes of the type electrolyzes)
the silicocalcium
the calcium carbide.

The chemical reactions made possible by the contribution of electricity are varied: Carboréduction (case of silicon, ferrosilicon), aluminosilicothermy (case of magnesium, process says Magnetherm); it can sometimes be a question of a simple fusion for purification and recrystallization (case of the production of electrocast Corindon).

Electrometallurgy is not to confuse with the electrolysis, in which the electrons forming the electric current take part directly in the chemical reactions.

The French industry group Pechiney had, at the sides of its production activity and transformation of the Aluminum, made up a branch electrometallurgy, whose factories were mainly localized in the the Alps and the the Pyrenees (at the origin, hydraulic electrical production).

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