Niobium producers

Niobium is important as an alloy addition in steels (see Steel). This use consumes over 90% of the niobium produced. Niobium is also vital as an alloying element in superalloys for aircraft turbine engines. Other uses, mainly in aerospace appHcations, take advantage of its heat resistance when alloyed singly or with groups of elements such as titanium, tirconium, hafnium, or tungsten. Niobium alloyed with titanium or with tin is also important in the superconductor industry (see High temperature alloys Refractories). 

The monograph will be useful for tantalum and niobium producers, for researchers studying the chemistry of fluorides, and for teachers and students at chemistry and metallurgy departments. 

Niobium(V) oxide trichloride is a significant impurity in niobium(V) chloride, which is used for the preparation of niobium metal. Indeed oxygen impurities in the high-purity niobium produced in this way originate largely with NbOCl 3, and the feasibility of its removal by phosgene treatment has been examined between 380 and 450 C [223,224] ... 

Gr. Tantalos, mythological character, father of Niobe) Discovered in 1802 by Ekeberg, but many chemists thought niobium and tantalum were identical elements until Rowe in 1844, and Marignac, in 1866, showed that niobic and tantalic acids were two different acids. The early investigators only isolated the impure metal. The first relatively pure ductile tantalum was produced by von Bolton in 1903. Tantalum occurs principally in the mineral columbite-tantalite. 

Separation of tantalum from niobium requires several complicated steps. Several methods are used to commercially produce the element, including electrolysis of molten potassium fluorotantalate, reduction of potassium fluorotantalate with sodium, or reacting tantalum carbide with tantalum oxide. Twenty five isotopes of tantalum are known to exist. Natural tantalum contains two isotopes. 

Other Metals. AH the sodium metal produced comes from electrolysis of sodium chloride melts in Downs ceUs. The ceU consists of a cylindrical steel cathode separated from the graphite anode by a perforated steel diaphragm. Lithium is also produced by electrolysis of the chloride in a process similar to that used for sodium. The other alkaH and alkaHne-earth metals can be electrowon from molten chlorides, but thermochemical reduction is preferred commercially. The rare earths can also be electrowon but only the mixture known as mischmetal is prepared in tonnage quantity by electrochemical means. In addition, beryIHum and boron are produced by electrolysis on a commercial scale in the order of a few hundred t/yr. Processes have been developed for electrowinning titanium, tantalum, and niobium from molten salts. These metals, however, are obtained as a powdery deposit which is not easily separated from the electrolyte so that further purification is required. 

The reaction of finely ground ores and an excess of carbon at high temperatures produces a mixture of metal carbides. The reaction of pyrochlore and carbon starts at 950°C and proceeds vigorously. After being heated to 1800—2000°C, the cooled friable mixture is acid-leached leaving an insoluble residue of carbides of niobium, tantalum, and titanium. These may be dissolved in HF or may be chlorinated or burned to oxides for further processing. 

Spectroscopic methods for the deterrnination of impurities in niobium include the older arc and spark emission procedures (53) along with newer inductively coupled plasma source optical emission methods (54). Some work has been done using inductively coupled mass spectroscopy to determine impurities in niobium (55,56). X-ray fluorescence analysis, a widely used method for niobium analysis, is used for routine work by niobium concentrates producers (57,58). Paying careful attention to matrix effects, precision and accuracy of x-ray fluorescence analyses are at least equal to those of the gravimetric and ion-exchange methods. 

Unstable niobium isotopes that are produced in nuclear reactors or similar fission reactions have typical radiation hazards (see Radioisotopes). The metastable Nb, = 14 yr, decays by 0.03 MeV gamma emission to stable Nb Nb, = 35 d, a fission product of decays to stable Mo by... 

Water as coolant in a nuclear reactor is rendered radioactive by neutron irradiation of corrosion products of materials used in reactor constmction. Key nucHdes and the half-Hves in addition to cobalt-60 are nickel-63 [13981 -37-8] (100 yr), niobium-94 [14681-63-1] (2.4 x 10 yr), and nickel-59 [14336-70-0] (7.6 x lO" yr). Occasionally small leaks in fuel rods allow fission products to enter the cooling water. Cleanup of the water results in LLW. Another source of waste is the residue from appHcations of radionucHdes in medical diagnosis, treatment, research, and industry. Many of these radionucHdes are produced in nuclear reactors, especially in Canada. 

HDPE resias are produced ia industry with several classes of catalysts, ie, catalysts based on chromium oxides (Phillips), catalysts utilising organochromium compounds, catalysts based on titanium or vanadium compounds (Ziegler), and metallocene catalysts (33—35). A large number of additional catalysts have been developed by utilising transition metals such as scandium, cobalt, nickel, niobium, molybdenum, tungsten, palladium, rhodium, mthenium, lanthanides, and actinides (33—35) none of these, however, are commercially significant. 

Stainless Steel There are more than 70 standard types of stainless steel and many special alloys. These steels are produced in the wrought form (AISI types) and as cast alloys [Alloy Casting Institute (ACI) types]. Gener y, all are iron-based, with 12 to 30 percent chromium, 0 to 22 percent nickel, and minor amounts of carbon, niobium (columbium), copper, molybdenum, selenium, tantalum, and titanium. These alloys are veiy popular in the process industries. They are heat- and corrosion-resistant, noncontaminating, and easily fabricated into complex shapes. 

Specify stabilized grades of stainless steel. An alternative method to prevent chromium carbide formation is to charge the alloy with substances whose affinity for carbon is greater than that of chromium. These substances will react preferentially with the carbon, preventing chromium carbide formation and thereby leaving the chromium uniformly distributed in the metal. The carbon content of the alloy does not have to be reduced if sufficient quantities of these stabilizing elements are present. Titanium is used to produce one stabilized alloy (321) and niobium is used to provide another (347). Note the cautions below. 

Odier metals having vety stable oxides can be reduced by the aluminothermic reaction to produce useful feno-alloys. Niobium oxide, NbO, can be reduced to form a feiTO-alloy by the inclusion of iron in die reacting iiiixmre as haematite or magnetite, depending on the niobium content which is requhed in the product. 

Good results are obtained with oxide-coated valve metals as anode materials. These electrically conducting ceramic coatings of p-conducting spinel-ferrite (e.g., cobalt, nickel and lithium ferrites) have very low consumption rates. Lithium ferrite has proved particularly effective because it possesses excellent adhesion on titanium and niobium [26]. In addition, doping the perovskite structure with monovalent lithium ions provides good electrical conductivity for anodic reactions. Anodes produced in this way are distributed under the trade name Lida [27]. The consumption rate in seawater is given as 10 g A ar and in fresh water is... 

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