Bird's experiments with his cell were important for the new discipline of electrometallurgy. Bird's experiments with this cell were of some importance to the new discipline of electrometallurgy. Unit processes are usually broken down into three categories&colon; pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and electrometallurgy. Finally, electrometallurgy generally involves electrolytic or electrothermal processing. Electrometallurgy involves metallurgical processes that take place in some form of electrolytic cell. Electrometallurgy is a method that uses electrical energy to produce metals by electrolysis.