Fusion electrolysis

This reaction comes to a stop with the formation of the stable complex beryllium fluoride-sodium difluoride (BeF2 2 NaF) and only a part of the beryllium can thus be obtained as metal (78), Analogous conditions have been described by Lebeau in the fusion electrolysis of beryllium fluoride-monosodium fluoride (51, 78), which stops when the bath reaches the composition of beryllium fluoride-sodium difluoride. 

Some variations of the sodium reduction process may be considered. Imperial Chemical Industries use an alloy of potassium and sodium as a reducing agent (60). This alloy, which can be produced by chemical methods as shown above and perhaps by fusion electrolysis (4), is a liquid at room temperature in the composition range between 10 and 60% sodium, and it ignites spontaneously when exposed to the atmosphere. The temperature margin in the reduction with... 

Expenses for sodium as reducing agent, on basis of U.S. prices and valency, per pound of titanium produced, identical with those of magnesium. Recycling of sodium chloride produced, through fusion electrolysis cell, offers no appreciable price saving... 

Price advantage for magnesium amounting to up to one third over sodium, can be expected when recycling anhydrous magnesium chloride on a sufficiently lar e scale through fusion electrolysis cell, which also yields a usable chlorine... 

The available methods of preparation include I) fusion electrolysis n) alumlnothermic reaction m) decomposition of azides. The first method (used exclusively in industry) has only occasional laboratory application. Relevant literature references for Ca are listed under I. Method n does not give good yields with Ca, but is... 

I. Strontium can be prepared by fusion electrolysis (see references for calcimn, part I), by the aluminothermic procedure (II), and by deconqiosition of azide (HI). Strontium prepared by the aluminothermic process, as well as the commercially available metal, is purified by distillation imder high vacuum. 

Potential fusion appHcations other than electricity production have received some study. For example, radiation and high temperature heat from a fusion reactor could be used to produce hydrogen by the electrolysis or radiolysis of water, which could be employed in the synthesis of portable chemical fuels for transportation or industrial use. The transmutation of radioactive actinide wastes from fission reactors may also be feasible. This idea would utilize the neutrons from a fusion reactor to convert hazardous isotopes into more benign and easier-to-handle species. The practicaUty of these concepts requires further analysis. 

In the spring of 1989, it was announced that electrochemists at the University of Utah had produced a sustained nuclear fusion reaction at room temperature, using simple equipment available in any high school laboratory. The process, referred to as cold fusion, consists of loading deuterium into pieces of palladium metal by electrolysis of heavy water, E)20, thereby developing a sufficiently large density of deuterium nuclei in the metal lattice to cause fusion between these nuclei to occur. These results have proven extremely difficult to confirm (20,21). Neutrons usually have not been detected in cold fusion experiments, so that the D-D fusion reaction familiar to nuclear physicists does not seem to be the explanation for the experimental results, which typically involve the release of heat and sometimes gamma rays. 

Soluble Sta.nna.tes, Many metal staimates of formula M Sn(OH) are known. The two main commercial products are the soluble sodium and potassium salts, which are usually obtained by recovery from the alkaline detinning process. They are also produced by the fusion of stannic oxide with sodium hydroxide or potassium carbonate, respectively, followed by leaching and by direct electrolysis of tin metal in the respective caustic solutions in cells using cation-exchange membranes (27). Another route is the recovery from plating sludges. 

It has been claimed that the D-D fusion reaction occurs when D2O is electroly2ed with a metal cathode, preferably palladium, at ambient temperatures. This claim for a cold nuclear fusion reaction that evolves heat has created great interest, and has engendered a voluminous titerature filled with claims for and against. The proponents of cold fusion report the formation of tritium and neutrons by electrolysis of D2O, the expected stigmata of a nuclear reaction. Some workers have even claimed to observe cold fusion by electrolysis of ordinary water (see, for example. Ref. 91). The claim has also been made for the formation of tritium by electrolysis of water (92). On the other hand, there are many experimental results that cast serious doubts on the reahty of cold fusion (93—96). Theoretical calculations indicate that cold fusions of D may indeed occur, but at the vanishingly small rate of 10 events per second (97). As of this writing the cold fusion controversy has not been entirely resolved. 

In March 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons reported their discovery of cold nuclear fusion. They announced that during electrolysis of a solution of hthium hydroxide in heavy water (DjO) with a cathode made of massive palladium, nuclear transformations of deuterium at room temperature can be recorded. This announcement, which promised humankind a new and readily available energy source, was seized upon immediately by the mass media in many countries. Over the following years, research was undertaken worldwide on an unprecedented scale in an effort to verify this finding. 

Electrochemistry was at the sonrce of the cold-fusion boom, bnt then at hrst sight seemed to stand aside. However, as a matter of fact, the central point in the experiments concerning electrolysis at palladium has been a phenomenon which now is investigated more vigoronsly and persistently electrochemical intercalation. 

Preparation. The ores are converted to an acid-soluble form by fusion chemical processes to obtain beryllium hydroxide or oxide and then beryllium chloride or fluoride are then applied, followed by electrolysis in the melt. 

Not to be confused with the cold fusion of deuterium purportedly achieved by chemists in Utah in 1989 using nothing but heavy water in an electrolysis cell. This claim of cold nuclear fusion was later shown to be untenable (see page 188). 

No doubt Chadwick and Rutherford would have been quick to pronounce similarly on the experiments of Pons and Fleischmann, a who announced on 23 March 1989 that they had observed I sustained nuclear fusion from the electrolysis of heavy water using palladium electrodes. Deuterium is absorbed by palladium in the same way as hydrogen, but its fusion into helium does not require such extreme conditions (see page 109). All the same, these conditions have long proved impossible to sustain in physicists attempts to harness nuclear fusion for energy generation. Now two chemists were claiming that these massively expensive fusion projects could be abandoned all you needed was a test tube and two strips of palladium. 

The electrolysis Of fused alkali salts.—Many attempts have been made to prepare sodium directly by the electrolysis of the fused chloride, since that salt is by far the most abundant and the cheapest source of the metal. The high fusion temp. the strongly corrosive action of the molten chloride and the difficulty of separating the anodic and cathodic products, are the main difficulties which have been encountered in the production of sodium by the electrolysis of fused sodium chloride. Attention has been previously directed to C. E. Acker s process for the preparation of sodium, or rather a sodium-lead alloy, by the electrolysis of fused sodium chloride whereby sodium is produced at one electrode, and chlorine at the other but the process does not appear to have been commercially successful. In E. A. Ashcroft s abandoned process the fused chloride is electrolyzed in a double cell with a carbon anode, and a molten lead cathode. The molten lead-sodium alloy was transported to a second chamber, where it was made the anode in a bath of molten sodium hydroxide whereby sodium was deposited at the cathode. A. Matthiessen 12 electrolyzed a mixture of sodium chloride with half its weight of calcium chloride the addition of the chloride of the alkaline earth, said L. Grabau, hinders the formation of a subchloride. J. Stoerck recommended the addition of... 

Hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide, [CAS 1310-58-3]. caustic potash, potassium hydrate, KOH, white solid, soluble, mp 380 C, formed (1) by reaction of potassium carbonate and calcium hydroxide in H2O, and then separation of the solution and evaporation. (2) by electrolysis of potassium chloride under the proper conditions, and evaporation. Used in the preparation of potassium salts f 1) in solution, and (2) upon fusion. Also used 111 the manufacture of (3) soaps, (4) drugs. (5) dyes, (6) alkaline batteries, (7) adhesives, (8) fertilizers, (9) alkylates, (10) for purifying industrial gases, (11) for scrubbing out traces of hydrofluoric add in processing equipment, (12) as a drain-pipe cleaner, and (13) in asphalt emulsions. 

For the recoveiy of thallium from the flue dust of pyrite burners, the dust is boiled with H2O, allowed to stand some time, filtered, and HC1 added to die filtrate, whereupon crude thallous chloride is precipitated. This is purified by further treatment, and thallium metal obtained (1) by electrolysis of the sulfate solution or (2) by fusion of the chloride widi sodium cyanide and carbonate. 

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