Preparation of metal fluorides and separation processes
AssigneesTechnische Universitaet Munchen, Philipps-Universitat Marburg
InventorsTobias Chemnitz, Florian Kraus, Winfried Petry, Christian Steyer, Stefan Rudel, Riane Stene
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Abstract
Provided is a process which allows uranium and molybdenum fluorides to be efficiently separated, said process comprising a step of providing a mixture containing MoF6 and UF6; a step of reducing the UF6 to UF5 in the gas phase or in a liquid phase; and a step of separating the UF5 and the MoF6 or a conversion product thereof which may be obtained by further converting the molybdenum fluoride to another molybdenum compound. In a further aspect, a process for the fluorination of metals or semimetals is provided.
Claims19
A process for separating a metal fluoride comprising uranium and a metal fluoride comprising molybdenum, comprising
- a step of providing a mixture containing MoF6 and UF6 as an initial metal fluoride mixture;
- a dissolution step, which comprises dissolving MoF6 and UF6 in a liquid phase or a supercritical fluid phase to obtain a solution containing both MoF6 and UF6 in dissolved form;
- a precipitation step, which comprises reducing the UF6 contained in the solution to UF5 and allowing it to precipitate from the solution;
- and
- a separation step, which comprises
- (i) separating the precipitated UF5 from the solution;
- or
- (ii) removing the liquid phase or supercritical fluid phase of the solution in the presence of the precipitated UF5 to obtain a solid phase containing the precipitated UF5 and molybdenum fluoride, and separating the UF5 and the molybdenum fluoride or a conversion product thereof which may be obtained by further converting the molybdenum fluoride to another molybdenum compound.
A process for separating a metal fluoride comprising uranium and a metal fluoride comprising molybdenum, comprising
- a step of providing a gas phase mixture containing MoF6, UF6 and a fluorine atom scavenger mixed in gaseous form;
- a step of irradiating the UF6 in the gas phase mixture in the presence of the fluorine atom scavenger with light having a wavelength in the range of 340 to 410 nm to reduce the UF6 to UF5 and to obtain a mixture comprising UF5 and MoF6;
- and
- a step of separating the UF5 and the MoF6.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.