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BMC: A Modulating Bar for Copper Electrowining

Designed for Heavy Duty and High Reliability
Eduardo P. Wiechmann, Senior Member, IEEE, Pablo E. Aqueveque, Member, IEEE,
Jorge Henriquez, Student Member, IEEE, Luis Muoz, Student Member, IEEE, and Anibal Morales.

AbstractThis
works
presents
the
research,
development and design of a BMC intercell bar for copper
electrowining following heavy duty and high-reliability
guidelines. As a result, the configuration ensures a lowmaximum temperature with high-temperature rated
connectors. These properties guarantee the hardness and
integrity of the contacts and consequently its lifetime.
Some key performance indicators include: control and
balance of the cathodic current densities, short circuit
protection and bypass of weak contacts. Further, it has
the unique property of hot-swapability for replacing
impaired connectors. Thus, the Availability of the intercell
bar under typical electrowining operating conditions is
ensured.
I.
Symbol

NOMENCLATURE

Description

Unit

Surface normal vector

Current density
Inward current
Electrical conductivity
Length of the contact layer
Voltage difference
Density
Heat capacity
Temperature
Thermal conductivity
Domain heat
Surface heat

2
(3 )

( )

II.

INTRODUCTION

Modern copper electrowining (Cu-EW) facilities in

operation worldwide are sized for a rated production from
120,000 to 200,000 Tons per year. The process uses 26,000
cathodes divided into 4 electrical independent circuits of 100
concrete polymeric cells each, with corresponding
electrolyte's hydraulic feeding/recycling system, diesel based
heat transfer plant, solvent extraction plant, exhaust fans for
acid mist control and other Cu-EW service's installations.
Each EW circuit is supplied by a high-current rectifier
rated up to 50 kA. Thus, the average cathode current density

at EW plants ranges from 200 to 450 A/m2 depending on the

number of cathodes per cell and the electrolyte's copper
concentration. It should be pointed out that the latest Cu-EW
plants put into service, present fully automatic harvesting
operation. This leaves room only for new technologies which
can provide high availability and high efficiency in order to
ensure KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of production,
cathode quality and energy. Any solution should offer low
standard deviation of current densities and low specific
energy consumption. Therefore, metallurgical short-circuits
and heat losses should be overcome.
In 2011 the first operational Current Source (CS) intercell
bar connection was installed in Zaldivar mining company, a
Barrick's facility located at 170 km southeast from
Antofagasta, Chile. Results accomplished with the
technology were quite satisfactory [1], reducing cathode
current density deviation by 40% and specific energy
consumption by 4% while increasing current efficiency by
0.6% and physical cathode quality by 4% (keeping chemical
quality). The solution has received industrial and academic
recognition.
The success of the CS configuration is based on its
equivalent electric circuit having a reasonably short-circuit
resistance and less sensitivity to parameter variations.
However, the CS exhibited an impairing weakness. It
happens in the event of an unexpected phenomenon (not
previously seen or anticipated) producing high temperatures
in electrode contacts. It appears if a weak contact is
established on intercell bar connectors. With CS the current
source pushes the current to flow throughout the weak
contact high resistance producing heat and energy losses. The
problem is not produced by open circuits where the connector
current is zero, and consequently power and heat dissipation
are also zero (open circuits are closed through the
electrolyte).
The electric model of the current modulating bar BMC
(by its acronym in Spanish) uses interconnector resistances in
the intercell bar. It is a hybrid configuration that lies between
equipotential Voltage Source (VS, Walker based intercell bar

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[2]) and Current Source (CS, Optibar intercell bar [3]) taking
the advantages from both (See Fig. 1).
III.

HEAVY-DUTY AND HIGH-RELIABILITY DESIGN

Enhancing Availability (A) requires extending the Mean

Time Between Failure (MTBF) while reducing the Mean
Time to Repair (MTTR):
=

1
1
=

=
+

(1)
(2)
(3)

Pursuing this goal, the definition of the following design

guidelines imposes strict boundaries to the research and
development of the BMC. Five requirements should be
fulfilled; the first four are related with MTBF and the last and
most strict with MTTR. Therefore, the intercell bar should be
designed to work with:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

High rated temperature of contacts.

High yield strength of contacts.
High chemical resistance.
Operation free of Hot-Spots.
Hot-Swapability.

To increase the rated temperature of contacts copper must

be replaced. This decision is a turning point for intercell bars.
Copper has been always selected based on its high
conductivity. However, it becomes soft with fairly low

temperatures (160C-sustained) and losses hardness (See Fig.

2). In turn this leads to deteriorated contacts. After reviewing
the state of art in copper high conductive alloys, the decision
was to select copper-chromium alloy C18200. It has 80%
IACS (electrical conductivity of commercially pure annealed
copper according to International Annealed Copper Standard)
securing very good conductivity and stands sustained
temperatures over 500C (design requirement #1). The
hardness of this standard alloy is 3X better than pure
annealed copper (design requirement #2). See table I.
Moreover, copper-chromium exhibits better chemical
resistance to sulfuric acid (aerated or submerged), surpassing
copper (design requirement #3) [4]. Finally, the slight
reduction in conductivity of intercell bar connectors is
irrelevant because its resistance is negligible next to the
contact resistances under normal operating conditions. See
table I.
Removing hot-spots of a CS intercell bar was a challenge.
The goal is to overcome the heat produced in the event of
weak contacts. This was accomplished by upgrading the
electric circuit configuration of the CS configuration. The
solution was achieved using interconnector electric
resistances in the BMC intercell bar. These resistances
provide secondary current paths to bypass defective contacts
while keeping short circuit protection. Moreover, for thermal
diffusion, connectors are thermally interconnected with super
duplex stainless steel 2507 pieces (see Table II, Fig. 3). This
steel resists the sulfuric acid and thermal environment of the
process. With these innovations the maximum working
temperature was reduced from 160C to 85C (design

Fig.1. Electric model superimposed over physical diagram of the process: a) VS, b) CS and c) BMC.

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requirement #4). Also, lower operation temperatures should

reduce chemical corrosion (aerated) of the connectors. See
Figure 3.
These improvements should mean a +1% addition to
energy efficiency (from 94% to 95%) operating at a current
density of 330 A/m2. For higher current densities, the
percentage increase in efficiency will be higher as well.
Currently, MTBF data for intercell bars is not available.
However, the field experience allow to set a low value for the
MTBF with conventional VS and CS bars while the
improvements aforementioned allow to predict a high MTBF
for BMC.
The last requirement is to reduce MTTR. Replacing a
defective intercell bar with any existing technology requires
the use of a 10 Ton short-circuit frame to bypass the process
current of three cells (affecting four cells in fact). Then,
personnel of plant operations proceed to drain the electrolyte
of the cells. Next, the corresponding 393 electrodes are lifted
away and the intercell bar becomes free and can be replaced.
This operation takes up to 12 hours. The complexity and the
time required for this procedure means that only in case of
extreme malfunction (major impairment of specific energy or
physical cathode quality), triangular bars are rotated or
replaced. Therefore, intercell bars normally operate with
defective connectors impairing productivity. This under
performance goes until a full housekeeping of the cell is
done. This operation is regularly scheduled every 3 months.
At this time, if a triangular bar presents many defective
contacts is rotated 120. Being triangular after two rotations
the entire bar must be replaced.
BMC offers hot-swapping of contacts and connectors
(design requirement #5). This means high Availability free of
defective connectors and very low maintenance cost. The last
is explained because instead of replacing a bar, only 1 out of
65 connectors requires to be rotated or replaced at once,
without disturbing the process. By using a pentagonal cross
section each connector possesses 5 contacts. Therefore, when
a contact becomes worn the pentagonal segment can be
rotated to the next contact position. Furthermore, pentagonal
connectors may be replaced with spare parts if required. The
final MTTR depends on inspection and detection of a
defective connector (the rotation or replacement time is
estimated to last less than 5 minutes). From industrial
practice, 8 hours is a conservative time to diagnose an
impaired contact and rotate or replace a connector. Fig. 4
shows a pentagonal connector. Finally, the lifetime of the
entire bar is greatly improved because the number of
available contact positions is boosted from 3 to 325 (5 x 65).
Also, in case of failure, only one connector requires to be

replaced instead of a complete intercell bar. Therefore,

maintenance costs are lower.
TABLE I. CHEMICAL, MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ANNEALED
ETP C11000 COPPER AND COPPER-CHROMIUM ALLOY C18200 @ 20C [4]
Mechanical Properties
Hardness (Rockwell B)
Tensile Strength (KSI)
Yield Strength (KSI)
Elongation (% in 2")

47
26
6
20

70
70
55
21

Physical Properties
Thermal Conductivity
(BTU/ft2-hr)
Thermal Expansion
(per F)
Density (lb per inch3)
Electrical Conductivity
(%IACS)
Modulus of Elasticity
(KSI)

226

187

0.0000098

0.0000098

0.323

0.321

100

80

17,000

17,000

TABLE II. Chemical, Mechanical and Physical Properties of Super Duplex

Stainless Steel 2507@ 20C [6]
Mechanical Properties
Hardness
Tensile Strength
Yield Strength
Elongation

32
116
85
15

Physical Properties
Thermal Conductivity
(BTU/ft2-hr)
Thermal Expansion
(per F)
Density (lb per inch3)
Electrical Conductivity
(-inch)
Modulus of Elasticity (KSI)

IV.

8.7
0.0000072
0.28
31.5
29,000

CU-EW PROCESS MODELING & BMC DESIGN

To evaluate the performance of the BMC electrical

configuration two different models of the Cu-EW process
were employed. First, an electrical model of concentrated
parameters with proven accuracy was used to predict the
cathode current density distribution of EW cells using VS,
CS and BMC configurations. The results obtained help to
validate the key performance indicators of the BMC
connection: control and balance of the cathode current
densities, short-circuit limiting capability and bypass of weak
contacts. Next, a 3D Finite Element model with distributed
parameters of the Cu-EW cells was developed and used to
predict the electrical

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150

CHROMIUM COPPER

140

130

ZIRCONUIM COPPER

HARDNESS HV

120

SILVER COPPER

110
100
90

80
70
60
100

200

300

400

500

600

TEMPERATURE (C)

Fig. 2. Progressive deterioration of the hardness with temperature for

Copper ETP C11000 and Copper-Chromium C18200[5]

Fig.3. Corrosion resistance of super duplex stainless steel 2507 against other
commercial standard steels [6].

behavior and the temperature distribution among the intercell

bar contacts of the BMC.
A.

Concentrated Parameter Electrical Model

Due to the slow dynamics of the copper electrometallurgical

process, a steady-state concentrated parameter electrical
model (CPM) can represent with enough accuracy the current
distributions [7]. The model of a Cu-EW cell is shown in
Figure 1.
The model includes the electrolyte resistance, the voltage
drop on the electrodes contacts, represented by a cathode and
anode contact resistance, the polarization voltage of the redox
reaction, and cathode and anode overpotentials. Electrolyte

Fig. 4. Pentagonal connector. (a) Upper view of two adjacent EW cells (b)
Close view of intercell connectors (c) Pentagon connector removed.

resistance dependents on the distance between electrodes,

copper concentration, sulfuric acid concentration and the
electrolyte temperature. The electrode overpotentials depend
mainly on the cathode current density. These variables are
summarized in a stochastic model that was adjusted to real
data measured on-site at Zaldivar EW plant.
For simulation purposes the same resistance values
(contacts and electrolyte resistances) were used for VS, CS
and BMC configurations. The simulations were performed
using the nodes method for solving matrix resistance
networks. The inputs to solve the cathode current distribution
of the EW cells are the total cell DC current (INET) and the
admittance matrix (YNET). The system (see equation 4) is
solved for the node voltages (VNET). Next, the cathode

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currents can be founded by using each node voltage and

branch resistance in the network. The interconnector
resistance of BMC was set to 800 and is generated in the
model with low resistance paths between connectors (see
Fig.1). Bolts were used in the same material as the connectors
(copper-chromium alloy C18200).
= ( )1

(4)

The outputs of this model are the electrolyte and the

cathode current densities. Theses outputs are introduced into
the 3D Finite Element Model as initial conditions.
B.

Finite Element Model

A 3D Finite Element model (FEM) with distributed

parameters of the Cu-EW cells was used to generate the
thermal profile of the three intercell bar configurations. The
FEM was implemented and simulated in Comsol
MultiphysicsTM 4.2a environment using a stationary analysis
with Electric Current & Heat Transfer coupling (see Fig. 5).
Giving the size of an electrolytic tankhouse (a volume of 1.4
m x 1.5 m x 6 m per cell), the finite element simulation was
limited only to the intercell bar (the focus of the thermal and
electrical behavior analysis) using as input the data collected
from the concentrated parameter model of the EW cell.
All domains, equivalent to each element included in the
model (hanger bars, intercell connectors, base-boards, bolts,
steel interconnectors) and interface boundaries (between the
following elements of the model: hanger bars - intercell
connectors, intercell connectors - copper bolts, copper bolts steel interconnectors, described elements - cell environment
surroundings), were defined in the software considering the
specific physical properties of each material as stated in Table
I and II (copper-chromium alloy C18200, super duplex
stainless steel 2507, ETP copper C11000). For the tankhouse
environment a convective forced air flow at 20C was
considered.
For simplicity, the ground potential in the FEM model
was assigned to the end of the anode hangerbars. The inward
currents () was assign to the opposite end on the cathode
hangerbars, according to the equation 5.
= 0

equation 6. The contact's conductivity () in the FEM model

was tuned using the same admittance matrix defined to the
CPM. The interface layer length (ds) for each contact was
assumed 0.1 mm.
=

(6)

For the thermal model (heat transfer), boundary

conditions were used on the extremes of anodes and cathodes
hangerbars. The temperatures at these boundaries were
established close to the electrolyte operating temperature to
40C. To represent the heat losses and the temperature (T)
produced by the electrical currents flowing through the
elements, a heat source (see equation 7) representing the total
electrical power dissipation was included on every domain.
= 2 +

(7)

Equation 7 includes the electrical heat source () and a

thermal dissipation term. Since a steady-state analysis must
be done, the time-dependent term is not included. Due the
voltage drop between the hangerbar and the intercell bar
connectors, power is dissipated in the interface. A boundary
heat source must be added to represent accurately this effect
(see equation 8).
() =
V.

(8)
RESULTS

For comparison purposes, BMC results are measured

against VS and CS solutions.

(5)

The contact resistance for anodes and cathodes was

modeled by using an interface resistance layer, according to

Fig 5. 3D FEM model mesh for a Cu-EW intercell bar.

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A.

Operational Thermal Profile

A 3D finite element model to research the thermal

behavior exhibited by VS, Cs and BMC technologies was
used. Fig. 5 depicts the results of the normal operation and
the two most demanding scenarios for the technologies; weak
contact and short-circuit.
Weak contacts are produced by physical deformation of
contacts either on the intercell bar or in the hanger bar of the
electrode (the last beyond the scope of this paper). Also, a
weak contact may be produced by chemical corrosion or
deficient housekeeping practices (i.e. poor contact cleaning).
When a deficient contact is present, the contact resistance
increases up to 10 times the normal resistance.
In a VS intercell bar, the current is free to find lower
resistance paths and the current flowing through the weak
contact high resistance is low. So, the VS bar is immune to
weak contacts [8]. In contrast, CS pushes the current to flow
through the deficient contact increasing the heat dissipated in
the contact. As shown (See Fig. 6.e), CS exhibits high
temperature in the contact, reaching up to 160C. BMC
works like VS thanks to the secondary current paths avoiding
excessive heat in the defective contact. Specifically, under
weak contact the temperature in VS and BMC bars reach
only 77C.
Facing a short circuit anomaly, VS exhibits high overcurrents through the electrodes and contacts involved. This
also increases the temperature up to 200 C in the intercell
bar's contacts. By opposite, CS bars and BMC limit the
occurrence and magnitude of short-circuits. The thermal
profile of contacts for both reach only 88C under shortcircuit occurrence.
Fig.6, show the heat reduction of BMC facing weak
contacts and short-circuits. BMC ensures an operation free of
hot-spots under typical operating conditions.
The contact normal temperature for BMC was estimated
in 55C (see Fig.6). This value depends on several EW cells
parameters: busbar shape, segment size, cathode current
density, the use of capping- or base-boards, physical
properties of the materials used to implement the intercell
bars, process environment conditions and electrolyte
temperature among others.
B.

Key Performance Indicators

The BMC bar retains CS advantageous features and

resolves its main weakness. The simulation of a circuit of 15

cells with 50 pairs of electrodes predicts a (+1%) further

improvement in energy efficiency. This solution offers good
standard deviation, short circuit immunity, better energy
consumption and lower maximum-operation temperature.
The price paid is a slight increase in the short circuit current.
Table III shows comparative results.
TABLE III
Key Performance Indicators of BMC connection against VS and CS
Process Parameter

VS

CS

BMC

Current Density Dispersion (%)

15.2

10.1

10.5

Short-circuits per cell per cycle

0.42

0.13

0.10

Short-circuit Overcurrent (%)

141%

40%

54%

1970

1910

1865

Maximum Current Density (A/m )

330

360

400

Average Normal Operating Temp (C)

55

55

55

Max. Weak Contact Temp (C)

75

160

77

Max. Short-Circuit Tem (C)

200

85

88

Specific Energy (kWh/Ton)

2

C.

BMC Reliability Improvements

A summary is shown in Table IV. The efficiency

increment for CS was measured during the implementation of
the technology. The BMC efficiency was estimated, using the
previously detailed models.
TABLE IV
BMC hybrid technology improvements
Parameter

VS

CS

BMC

Efficiency Increment

4%

5%

Contact Rated
Temperature

160C

160C

500C

Yield strength @ 20C

<6 KSI

<6 KSI

>55 KSI

Maintenance cost

High

High

Very low

MTBF

Low

Low

High

2,000 hrs

2,000 hrs

8hrs

Low

Low

High

2-3 years

2-3 years

8 years

MTTR
Availability

Life Time
(*) with rated efficiency

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Fig. 6. Thermal profile of VS, CS and BMC: a) VS Normal, b) CS Normal, c) BMC Normal, d) VS Weak Contact, e) CS Weak Contact, f) BMC Weak
Contact, g) VS Short Circuit, h) CS Short Circuit, and i) BMC Short Circuit.

VI.

CONCLUSION

The BMC hybrid solution takes the advantages of the

voltage source and current source intercell bars. The synergy
result is better efficiency and full capability of handling
short-circuits and weak contacts. It reduces its counterparts
maximum temperatures from 200C to 88C. Further, it
improves the MTBF with better yield strength 10X, better
rated temperature from 160C to 500C and, better resistance
to chemical corrosion by sulphuric acid. Finally, it
incorporates connectors hot-swappability improving the
availability of the electrowining cells under typical operating
conditions. Finally, with better MTBF and MTTR the
Availability with high energy efficiency is improved.
VII.
[1]

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