What does «electrometalurgia» mean in Spanish?
- Application of electrical processes to metallurgy. Electrometallurgy comprises a set of methods that use electrical energy to produce metals by electrolysis. Electrometallurgy is usually the last stage of metal production and is therefore preceded by pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical operations. Electrolysis can be performed on a molten metal oxide (fusion electrolysis) which is used, for example, to produce aluminum from aluminum oxide by the Hall-Hérault process. Electrolysis can be used as a final refining step in pyrometallurgical metal production (electrorefining) and is also used for the reduction of a metal from an aqueous metal salt solution produced by hydrometallurgy (electrowinning).