THE PREPARATION OF HIGH-PURITY BERYLLIUM OXIDE THROUGH THE ACETYLACETONE- EDTA SOLVENT EXTRACTION PROCESS

Technical Report · Thu Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 1962

OSTI ID:4768854

Moore, R E; Shaffer, J H; McDuffie, H F

A solvent extraction process was devised and used successfully in the preparation of high-purity BeO. A smallscale production operation was demonstrated. The process consists of extracting a solution of beryllium acetylacetonate in CCl/sub 4/ with an aqueous solution containing EDTA. Beryllium is largely retained in the organic phase while most metallic impurities are complexed with EDTA in the aqueous phase. The beryllium is subsequently backextracted into nitric acid, precipitated as hydroxide with ammonia, and calcined to purified BeO at 600 to 1000 deg C. Altogether, about 1414 g of high- purity oxide was prepared in 23 analyzed batches. If all of these 23 batches were blended, the composite would contaln less than 5 ppm each of aluminum, iron, copper, and magnesium and less than 10 ppm each of calcium and silicon. In nearly all of the preparations the other metallic impurities were below the quantitatively detectable limit (5 or 10 ppm) for most elements of the spectrographic analysis. Several batches were used in the preparation of spectrographic standards for low-level analysis. Other batches are scheduled for sintering studies and irradiation experiments. Distribution ratio vs pH curves for beryllium and several important impurities, the phase diagram of the system Be(CH/sub 3/COCHCOCH/sub 3/)/sub 2-/ tails of the purification procedure are given. The possible preparation of very much higher purity BeO and the possibility of using the process for the preparation of other high-purity materials such as Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ are discussed. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-16-032952
• OSTI ID: 4768854
• Report Number(s): ORNL-3323
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-62
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

CHEMISTRY
ACETONE
ACETYL RADICALS
ACETYLACETONE
ACIDITY
ALUMINUM
ALUMINUM OXIDES
AMMONIA
BERYLLIUM HYDROXIDES
BERYLLIUM OXIDES
CALCIUM
CARBON TETRACHLORIDE
COPPER
DIAGRAMS
DISTRIBUTION
EDTA
ESTERS
HIGH TEMPERATURE
IMPURITIES
IRON
MAGNESIUM
MIXING
NITRIC ACID
ORGANOMETALLICS
PHASE DIAGRAMS
PRECIPITATION
PREPARATION
SILICON
SINTERING
SOLUTIONS
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SPECTROMETERS
TEMPERATURE
WATER