Electrolytic production of neodymium metal from a molten chloride electrolyte. Rept. of Investigations/1991

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5406835

Chambers, M F; Murphy, J E

Electrowinning of neodymium metal was accomplished by using a molten-metal cathode at 650 C and an electrolyte of 50 mol pct neodymium chloride-50 mol pct potassium chloride. The molten-metal cathodes were alloys of magnesium and zinc or magnesium and cadmium. Current efficiencies were 90 pct with a Mg/Zn cathode and 80 pct with a Mg-Cd cathode. The Mg-Cd cathode was easily separated from the electrolyte. In contrast, the Mg-Zn cathode tended to mix with the electrolyte, making separation difficult. The cathode metals were separated from the neodymium by distillation at 1,100 C under a vacuum of 10 to the -3rd power torr. Neodymium metal of 99.9+ purity was recovered from the Mg-Cd alloy cathode after 30 min distillation time. The neodymium recovered from the Mg-Zn system contained almost 2 pct Zn after vacuum distillation. Continuous operation using the Mg-Cd alloy cathode was demonstrated.

• Research Organization: Bureau of Mines, Reno, NV (United States). Reno Research Center
• OSTI ID: 5406835
• Report Number(s): PB-92-151737/XAB; BUMINES-RI-9391
• Resource Relation: Other Information: See also PB91-100842
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
NEODYMIUM
ELECTROMETALLURGY
CADMIUM ALLOYS
CATHODES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DISTILLATION
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
ELECTROLYSIS
ELECTROLYTES
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
LIQUID METALS
MAGNESIUM ALLOYS
MATERIALS RECOVERY
NEODYMIUM CHLORIDES
PURIFICATION
ZINC ALLOYS
ALLOYS
CHEMISTRY
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ELECTRODES
ELEMENTS
EVALUATION
FLUIDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
LIQUIDS
LYSIS
MANAGEMENT
METALLURGY
METALS
NEODYMIUM COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RARE EARTH COMPOUNDS
RARE EARTHS
RECOVERY
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
360101* - Metals & Alloys- Preparation & Fabrication