Jinchuan Nickel-Cobalt's Nickel Smelter's Electro-winning Workshop No. 1 has achieved a major breakthrough. The team led by Li Huaping recently earned the second prize for 2025 Employee Technological Innovation Achievements from the China Association of Workers' Technical Societies for their project, "Development and Application of Starter Sheets in Electro-winning Process."

This innovation, born from frontline production, fills a critical gap in the group's nickel electro-winning technology by enabling in-house production of starter sheets. It has stabilized the sheet yield rate, generating direct annual economic benefits exceeding 20 million yuan. The workshop has transformed from a "buyer" of starter sheets into a "supplier," marking a complete reversal of its procurement role.

Starter sheets are the "seeds" of nickel electro-winning, acting as the foundation for the entire production process. The electro-winning method, favored for its short process flow, low cost, low energy consumption, and pollution-free nature, is a key direction for optimizing the company's industrial layout and enhancing efficiency. In 2024, the production workshop officially commenced operations. Initially, all required starter sheets were supplied by the electrolytic system, which not only consumed electrolytic cell capacity but also frequently left production in a "hungry" state, severely limiting efficiency and output.

Achieving self-sufficiency in this raw material was a long-standing technical challenge. The electro-winning process uses solvent extraction to remove impurities, which causes oil accumulation in the system. The resulting starter sheets became brittle and prone to peeling, making them unusable. The roughness of titanium mother plates lacked clear standards; being too rough made peeling difficult and caused deformation, while being too smooth led to premature detachment. During acid treatment, even slight deviations in acid concentration, heating temperature, or processing time could cause bending, deformation, or edge cracking. Issues like blistering, tearing, and difficult-to-peel sheets persisted, diaphragm bag wear increased, and the labor intensity of replacing them remained high, keeping the overall yield rate low.

"Why can't we develop our own technology for producing starter sheets in the electro-winning process to achieve self-sufficiency?" This question drove Team Leader Li Huaping and his team to tackle the challenge. There was no shortcut to solving the problem. Each adjustment to process parameters affected the final outcome, so the team had to rely on extensive comparative experimental data for breakthroughs. Over two months, they meticulously compared parameters and verified results batch by batch, repeatedly testing and adjusting. They eventually identified the key factors affecting yield rate from the complex data. By implementing a three-stage oil removal process, they achieved stable control of oil levels in the system. They established standards for titanium mother plate roughness, accurately categorizing plates for immersion based on surface differences. Through repeated experiments with acid concentration, time, and temperature, they found the optimal acid treatment window, effectively removing surface impurities from the mother plates and eliminating defects like nickel peeling and difficult peeling.

From nothing to something, and from good to excellent, this technological innovation resolved not just the workshop's "eating" problem but also a key bottleneck restricting overall production. Now, the starter sheets produced by the electro-winning process meet all standards for yield rate, surface quality, suspension, and flatness. They are not only self-sufficient, improving the operating rate of the electro-winning cells, but are also supplied back to the electrolytic workshop, fully releasing its capacity. High-quality starter sheets have also created conditions for adopting intelligent cranes, allowing for the entire sheet to be lowered into the cell. This reduces labor intensity and fundamentally eliminates the risk of burns from solution splashes during the feeding process.

"Currently, our nickel starter sheets for the electro-winning process have fully met production needs," said Li Huaping. From the struggle of "no food to cook" to the independence of "securing the rice bowl," a single nickel sheet bears witness to the persistent pursuit of keeping core technologies firmly in hand. This frontline team has proven that no production technology challenge is insurmountable. By staying focused on goals, daring to experiment, and persevering, workers on the ground can shine from their ordinary posts and stand at the center of the innovation stage, driving efficiency and technological progress.