Molten salts chemical reaction

The shape of powder particles largely depends on the methods of production [451], which maybe divided into mechanical, physicochemical, and chemical. Mechanical methods include milling, granulation, and spraying (atomization) physicochemical methods include condensation and the electrolysis of aqueous solutions and molten salts chemical methods include the production of a very fine material on separating from the reaction mixture (melt or solution). For example, in the milling of Sb, Bi, Mn, Cr, Co,... 

Aluminum. All primary aluminum as of 1995 is produced by molten salt electrolysis, which requires a feed of high purity alumina to the reduction cell. The Bayer process is a chemical purification of the bauxite ore by selective leaching of aluminum according to equation 35. Other oxide constituents of the ore, namely siUca, iron oxide, and titanium oxide remain in the residue, known as red mud. No solution purification is required and pure aluminum hydroxide is obtained by precipitation after reversing reaction 35 through a change in temperature or hydroxide concentration the precipitate is calcined to yield pure alumina. 

Chemical reaction This involves the formation of distinct compounds by reaction between the solid metal and the fused metal or salt. If such compounds form an adherent, continuous layer at the interface they tend to inhibit continuation of the reaction. If, however, they are non-adherent or soluble in the molten phase, no protection will be offered. In some instances, the compounds form in the matrix of the alloy, for example as grain-boundary intermetallic compound, and result in harmful liquid metal embrittlement (LME) although no corrosion loss can be observed. 

After a study of the three alternatives we concluded that pyroredox offered the most promise for anode residue recovery. Pyroredox is a molten-salt process in which plutonium metal is oxidized chemically into the salt phase and then reduced chemically into the metal phase. Most of the impurities are not oxidized and remain in the metal residue. Thus, for a Pu-Ga anode residual, the reactions would be ... 

Formation of single-phase ZnTe on zinc substrates at 640 K by using electrochemical ion exchange and chemical reaction/alloying with Te" species, supplied to the substrate as a vapor from TeCU-containing eutectic LiCl-KCl molten salts, was reported recently [118]. ZnTe films with a smooth dense surface and particle diameters less than about 0.8 p,m were obtained, by properly adjusting the TeCU content and the reaction time. 

The quality of the refined metal, and the current efficiency strongly depend on the soluble vanadium in the bath and the quality of the anode feed. As the amount of vanadium in the anode decreases, the current efficiency and the purity of the refined product also decrease. A laboratory preparation of the metal with a purity of better than 99.5%, containing low levels of nitrogen (30-50 ppm) and of oxygen (400-1000 ppm) has been possible. The purity obtainable with potassium chloride-lithium chloride-vanadium dichloride and with sodium chloride-calcium chloride-vanadium dichloride mixtures is better than that obtainable with other molten salt mixtures. The major impurities are iron and chromium. Aluminum also gets dissolved in the melt due to chemical and electrochemical reactions but its concentrations in the electrolyte and in the final product have been found to be quite low. The average current efficiency of the process is about 70%, with a metal recovery of 80 to 85%. 

Moltox A process for separating oxygen from air by selective absorption in a molten salt mixture at high temperature. Invented by D. C. Erickson of Energy Concepts, and developed by Air Products and Chemicals. The salts are a mixture of the nitrites and nitrates of sodium and potassium. The reaction is ... 

This model may possibly be adapted to metal-water thermal explosions if one assumes that there are reactions between the molten metal and water (and substrate) that form a soluble salt bridge across the interface between the two liquids. This salt solution would then be the material which could superheat and, when finally nucleated, would initiate the thermal explosion. As noted, the model rests on the premise that there are chemical reactions which occur very quickly between metal and water to form soluble products. There is experimental evidence of some reactions taking place, but the exact nature of these is not known. Perhaps, in the case of aluminum, the hydroxide or hydrated oxides form. With substrates covered by rust or an inorganic salt [e.g., Ca(OH)2], these too could play an important role in forming a salt solution. 

It is possible that this theory can be adapted to explain molten metal-water thermal explosions although many needed data are still unavailable. One might presume that, at the molten metal-wet surface interface, there is some chemical reaction. Possibly that of the metal plus water or metal plus surface to lead to localized formation of salt solutions. These may then superheat until homogeneous nucleation occurs. The local temperature and pressure would then be predicted to be far in excess of the critical point of pure water (220 bar, 647 K) and a sharp, local explosion could then result. Fragmentation or subsequent other superheat explosions would then lead to the full-scale event. 

Solution processes for removal of SO2 from effluent gas streams normally require lower absorption temperatures than do gas phase techniques. Thus, of the four listed in Table IV only the Molten Salt Method has the capability of accepting high temperature flue gas without cooling. In all but one of the cases, elemental sulphur is the end product and in the single instance of the Ammoniacal Solution Process, sulphur is a coproduct with ammonium sulphate. This process has been extensively examined and developed in a number of countries, and is chemically interesting because of the unusual redox reaction that is suspected to take place between the products of air oxidation of SO2 absorbed in ammonia solution. Both products, sulphur and ammonium sulphate, are normally saleable commodities. 

The Other Five Candidates. All the molten salt SBs reviewed above have either a Li anode or a lithium alloy, one in which Li prevails quantitatively. As to the other 5 light metals they are seldom mentioned in the literature as candidates for anodes in these SBs, except Al. In (82) it is stated that molten salt batteries with Ca or Mg anodes yield only a small proportion of their theoretical energy because (a) Ca anodes react chemically with the electrolyte, and (b) both Ca and Mg anodes are passivated at high current drains, becoming coated with resistive films of solid salts. In a melt containing Li salts, Ca replaces Li ions by the displacement reaction Ca + 2LiCl = CaCl2 + 2Li. 

Subject areas for the Series include solutions of electrolytes, liquid mixtures, chemical equilibria in solution, acid-base equilibria, vapour-liquid equilibria, liquid-liquid equilibria, solid-liquid equilibria, equilibria in analytical chemistry, dissolution of gases in liquids, dissolution and precipitation, solubility in cryogenic solvents, molten salt systems, solubility measurement techniques, solid solutions, reactions within the solid phase, ion transport reactions away from the interface (i.e. in homogeneous, bulk systems), liquid crystalline systems, solutions of macrocyclic compounds (including macrocyclic electrolytes), polymer systems, molecular dynamic simulations, structural chemistry of liquids and solutions, predictive techniques for properties of solutions, complex and multi-component solutions applications, of solution chemistry to materials and metallurgy (oxide solutions, alloys, mattes etc.), medical aspects of solubility, and environmental issues involving solution phenomena and homogeneous component phenomena. 

Molten salts can be good media in which to carry out chemical reactions. The rate of all reactions increases exponentially with temperature. A liquid medium causes a higher rate of reaction to occur in a solute compared with that in a gas at the same temperature. Why is this The situation needs thought. In the gaseous state, reactants... 

Dry reprocessing procedures, such as volatilization of U as UFe, fusion with Na2S20v or Na0H/Na202, chemical reactions in molten salts or pyrometallurgical procedures, have also been proposed, but have not found practical application. 

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