In the copper electrolysis industry, cleaning copper particles from the cathode plate surface was
once considered a “necessary but inefficient” part of the process. Traditional manual scraping is
not only time-consuming and laborious, but also has high hidden costs - from plate loss, metal
waste to occupational health risks, each of which eats into corporate profits. With the popularization
of intelligent cleaning technology, this situation is being completely overturned. Fully automated
copper particle cleaning system through the technology to reconfigure the logic of production,
in manpower, energy consumption, raw materials, maintenance of the four core cost items to
achieve a precipitous decline in the comprehensive cost reduction rate exceeded 80%. This
article will dismantle the technical logic behind it and landing path, for electrolytic copper
enterprises to provide replicable cost reduction and efficiency programs.
Traditional cleaning mode: the underestimated “cost
black hole”.
Copper electrolysis enterprises often focus on cost control on the optimization of electrolysis
process or raw material procurement, but ignore the hidden consumption of cleaning. Take a
medium-sized plant with an annual output of 50,000 tons as an example, under the traditional
manual cleaning mode, the real cost composition is as follows:
Labor cost: a single production line requires 8 workers to work in three shifts, with an annual salary
expenditure of over 1.2 million RMB;
Polar plate loss: scraper operation leads to surface scratches on the polar plate, with an average annual
replacement cost of about 600,000 yuan;
Metal waste: manual cleaning of copper powder recovery rate of only 65%, annual loss of copper value
of more than 2 million yuan;
Environmental protection treatment: copper-containing wastewater treatment, dust collection system
operation and maintenance, annual investment of about 800,000 yuan;
Accident compensation: occupational disease compensation caused by heavy metal exposure, the
average annual expenditure of about 200,000 yuan.
The above five superimposed, the annual comprehensive cost of 4.8 million yuan, accounting for
12% -15% of the total cost of the enterprise. More seriously, the purity fluctuations caused by manual
cleaning (99.93% ± 0.03%), making it difficult for products to enter the high-end market, the
indirect loss is incalculable.
Technology breakthrough: how to reconfigure the cost
structure of fully automated systems
Intelligent cleaning equipment through the “machine for man + process innovation” double-wheel drive,
in four dimensions to reshape the cost curve:
1. 95% reduction of manpower cost: from intensive labor to unattended operation.
Operation mode innovation: the equipment realizes the unmanned process of automatic loading, scanning,
cleaning and quality inspection of cathode plates, and only one person is needed to monitor a single production
line, reducing the labor cost from 1.2 million/year to 60,000/year;
Efficiency multiplication: cleaning speed is increased from 8 minutes/block by manual labor to 45 seconds/block,
and equipment investment is reduced by 40% under the same capacity.
2. 300% longer life span of pole plate: from violent scraping to non-destructive cleaning
Precision control technology: AI vision system monitors the surface status of the pole plate in real time, and the
pressure of the flexible brush head is controlled at 0.1-0.3N/cm² to avoid mechanical damage;
Dynamic path planning: laser navigation avoids weak areas of the pole plate (e.g. edge welds), which extends the
pole plate replacement cycle from 6 months to 2 years and saves more than 1.5 million RMB annually.
3. Raw material recovery rate increased to 98%: from crude loss to closed-loop utilization
Negative pressure adsorption system: the closed pipeline transports the stripped copper powder directly to the
sorting line, the metal recovery rate jumps from 65% to 98%, and the annual loss is reduced by 1.9 million RMB;
Impurity sorting technology: eddy current sorter precisely separates copper powder and oxides, the purity of copper
material in the return furnace reaches 99.5%, reducing refining energy consumption by 15%.
4. 60% reduction of comprehensive energy consumption: from high energy consumption to green cycle
Intelligent power adjustment: the equipment automatically matches the power according to the amount of impurities
attached, the peak energy consumption is only 12kW, which saves 40% of electricity compared with the traditional high-pressure rinsing;
Resource recycling design: the recycling rate of cleaning media (such as pure water, inert gas) is over 90%,
and the cost of auxiliary materials is reduced by 70%.
The path to 80% cost reduction: a three-step strategy
Realize the cliff type cost reduction can not only rely on equipment procurement, need to build
“technology - management - process” synergistic system:
Stage 1: production line digital diagnosis (1-2 months)
Data collection: monitoring the key indicators such as the speed of the pole plate passing through, the loss
rate of copper powder, and the peak energy consumption of the existing cleaning process through sensors;
Cost modeling: establish a full cost model that includes explicit expenditures (manpower, consumables) and
implicit losses (purity degradation, risk of production shutdown);
Program matching: selecting equipment types based on capacity scale (e.g., modular matrix system is suitable
for large bases, desktop-level equipment is suitable for pilot lines).
Stage 2: Intelligent system integration (3-6 months)
Flexible transformation: Retain the original infrastructure such as traveling cars and conveying tracks, add AI vision
modules and robotic arms, and reduce the transformation cost by 50%;
Process convergence: Docking the electrolytic tank and casting process through MES system to synchronize the
rhythm of “out of the tank-cleaning-into the furnace” and reduce the loss of electrode plates in temporary storage;
Personnel retraining: the former cleaning team was transformed into an equipment operation and maintenance
team, which mastered skills such as condition monitoring and fault prediction.
Stage 3: Continuous optimization and iteration (long-term)
Data-driven adjustment: Accumulate data on cleanup quality, energy consumption, and efficiency, and optimize
equipment operating parameters on a monthly basis;
Carbon asset development: convert consumption reduction data into carbon emission reduction indicators, and
participate in carbon trading to obtain additional revenue;
Technology grafting extension: link the cleaning system with the electrolysis process, for example, dynamically
adjusting the cleaning intensity according to the concentration of electrolyte impurities.
Breakthrough: from cost control to value creation
Intelligent cleaning technology brings not only cost reduction, but also opens up new profitability scenarios:
High-end market access: copper purity is stabilized at over 99.99%, meeting high-end demand for chip bonding
lines, superconducting copper materials, etc., with a premium of 8%-15%;
Realization of renewable resources: the annual recovery of more than 2,000 tons of high-purity copper powder,
which can be directly sold as additives, creating by-product revenue;
Green certification premium: with labels such as “zero wastewater discharge” and “65% reduction in carbon
footprint per unit of product”, the company has gained the favor of ESG investment.
Conclusion
The cost competition in the copper electrolysis industry has shifted from “squeezing the labor dividend” to
“technology reconstructing the value chain”. Fully automated copper particle cleaning technology through
the innovation of the four two pounds, proving that intelligent manufacturing is not an expensive multiple
choice question, but a must-answer question to reduce costs and increase efficiency. When enterprises jump
out of the “cost cutting is layoffs and salary cuts” mindset, and turn to technology-driven systematic
innovation, the harvest will not only be 80% cost reduction, but also a fast track to high-end, green growth.