Electrometallurgy

Extract Silicate Rocks’ Oxygen by Electrowinning

In recent years, Bureau of Mines projects under the sponsorship of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have explored various aspects of the problems associated with establishing habitable stations on the Moon. The rapid advances in space technology, and particularly the success of the Apollo missions, indicate it is within reason to envision lunar … Read more

Recover Vanadium by Electrolysis

The preparation of ductile vanadium from vanadium carbide was investigated by the Bureau of Mines as a part of a research program on the extraction and utilization of vanadium resources. The vanadium was extracted from the vanadium carbide by electrolysis in a molten-salt electrolyte protected from oxidation by a helium atmosphere. The preparation of relatively … Read more

How to Separate Columbium, Tantalum, Titanium and Zirconium

Waste products from the chlorination of rutile present a serious disposal problem because of the toxicity of some of the metallic ions when waste residues are dissolved in water and HCl gas is released into the atmosphere. Previous work showed that the water-soluble portion of the chlorination waste contained chloride and chloride-oxide complexes of Cb, … Read more

Recovery of Silver and Mercury by Electrolytic Oxidation

Silver was one of the first metals known to man, and metallurgical processes for the recovery of silver from ores date back into antiquity. Mercury amalgamation and retorting to recover metallic silver from slags, mine tailings, and scrap were in common use by the end of the 15th century. In 1557, the Patio process was … Read more

Electrically Leach Molybdenum by Oxidation

Classic flotation and roasting procedures for recovering molybdenum oxide from molybdenum source materials frequently result in low recovery of molybdenum. This is particularly true in molybdenum flotation from porphyry copper ores where difficulties can he encountered in refloating molybdenite which has been recycled to rougher and cleaner flotation sequences. Because copper-molybdenum separation may be less … Read more

Extraction Process Sm2O3 Samarium Leaching

The growth in demand for certain lanthanides has resulted in the development of industrial processes for their separation and purification from source materials. These operations have resulted in the availability of substantial quantities of a byproduct mixture of rare-earth elements that contain mostly samarium and neodymium, and lesser amounts of praseodymium, cerium, and lanthanum. Potential … Read more

Electrowinning of Titanium

Composite diaphragms were constructed and used for the electrowinning of Ti from TiCl4 to eliminate some of the problems associated with diaphragm failure. High-purity titanium (Ti) was previously electrowon from titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) fed into a molten electrolyte (520° C) composed of lithium chloride, potassium chloride, and titanium dichloride (LiCl-KCl-TiCl2). Two papers describing the work … Read more

Rare Earth & Hydrogen Oxygen Fuel Cell

The activity of rare-earth compounds for catalysis of the hydrogen-oxygen reaction is of interest because of their possible use for electrocatalysis of the cathode reaction of a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell. Although platinum metal has been widely used as a fuel cell catalyst, its high price and relatively limited supply prohibit its use in truly large-scale … Read more

Zinc Electrowinning & Impurities

In the commercial electrowinning of zinc, zinc oxide is leached from the roasted calcine with an aqueous acid sulfate electrolyte. The zinc-rich solution is purified and then passed into an electrolytic cell where a fraction of the metal is cathodically deposited. The spent electrolyte is pumped from the cell to readjust the zinc concentration by … Read more

How to Remove Mercury from Flotation Concentrate by Leaching & Electrolysis

Primary mercury metal is produced commercially by heating mercury sulfide concentrate in furnaces to vaporize mercury metal, which is cooled and recovered in a condensing system. Potential health and safety problems exist because mercury vapors can escape from the furnace and condenser. The Bureau of Mines and McDermitt Mine, operated by Placer Amex Inc., the … Read more