Experimental design for copper cementation process in fixed bed reactor using two-level factorial design

Abstract

This work deals with cementation of copper onto iron grid in a fixed bed reactor. The influence of several parameters is studied, namely: initial concentration of copper [Cu2+]0, temperature and flow rate. Moreover, their influence on the copper cementation reaction is investigated statistically by the experimental design in view of industrial application. The estimation and the comparison of the parameter’s effects are realized by using two-level factorial design. The analysis of these effects permits to state that the most influential factor is initial concentration of copper [Cu2+]0 with an effect of (+2.4566), the second in the order is the temperature with an effect of (+0.18959), the third is the flow rate of the electrolytic solution with an effect of (−0.4226). The significance interactions found by the design of experiments are between initial concentrations of copper ions–flow rate (x1x3) with an effect (b13 = +0.6965).