Metal recovery process
AssigneeMinex Technology Group Limited
InventorBrian Matthew DEY
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Abstract
A process for recovering a metal in the form of a metal halide from a metal-containing source is described, the process comprising the steps of: —(i) forming a solid metal halide containing product by contacting the metal-containing source with a gaseous halide in an oxidising environment and at a temperature below the vaporisation temperature of the metal halide of interest; (ii) heating the metal halide containing product formed in step (i) to a temperature at or above the vaporisation temperature of the metal halide to form a gaseous metal halide containing product; and (iii) condensing the gaseous metal halide containing product of step (ii) to recover the metal halide of interest.
Claims12
A process for recovering a metal in the form of a metal halide from a metal-containing source, the process comprising the steps of:
- —
- (i) forming a solid metal halide containing product by contacting the metal-containing source with a gaseous halide in an oxidising environment and at a temperature below the vaporisation temperature of the metal halide of interest;
- (ii) heating the metal halide containing product formed in step (i) to a temperature at or above the vaporisation temperature of the metal halide to form a gaseous metal halide containing product;
- and
- (iii) condensing the gaseous metal halide containing product of step (ii) to recover the metal halide of interest.
A process according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein in step (i) the metal-containing source and the gaseous halide are brought into contact in a fluidised bed reactor.
A process according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein in step (i), the metal-containing source and gaseous halide are brought into contact at a temperature of greater than 100° C.
A process according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein in step (ii), the metal halide containing product of step (i) is heated to a temperature of from 700° C. to 1500° C.
A process according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the recovered metal halide of step (iii) is further treated to extract the metal of interest.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.