Treatment of metal ores
OwnerDerek Fray, Paul Coxoninventors
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Abstract
A method of refining a metal (e.g. titanium), comprising the following steps: (a) providing (10) an oxide of the metal having a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %; (b) reacting (12) the oxide of the metal to form an oxycarbide by providing an electrode comprising the oxide of the metal and carbon, and electrolytically reducing the electrode in a molten calcium chloride electrolyte; (c) electrolysing (14) the oxycarbide in an electrolyte, with the oxycarbide configured as an anode; and (d) recovering (16) a refined form of the metal from a cathode in the electrolyte.
Claims11
A method of refining a metal capable of forming an oxycarbide, comprising the following steps:
- (a) providing an oxide of the metal;
- (b) reacting the oxide of the metal to form the oxycarbide by:
- providing an electrode comprising the oxide of the metal and carbon;
- and
- electrolytically reducing the electrode in a molten calcium chloride electrolyte;
- (c) electrolyzing the oxycarbide in the molten calcium chloride electrolyte by reversing electrolytic cell polarity such that the oxycarbide is configured as an anode;
- and
- (d) recovering a refined form of the metal from a cathode in the molten calcium chloride electrolyte;
- wherein the oxide of the metal has a level of impurities of at least 1.0 wt %;
- and
- wherein the impurities are leached from the oxycarbide before step (c) using acid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.