Decomposition of alkali metal amalgams
AssigneeOronzio de Nora Impianti Elettrochimici S.p.A.
InventorsOronzio De Nora, Antonio Nidola, Placido M. Spaziante
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Abstract
A novel polyphase packing for alkali metal mercury amalgam denuders comprised of a sintered mixture of powdered valve metal borides and valve metal carbides, a novel amalgam denuder containing the said polyphase packing and a novel process of decomposing alkali metal mercury amalgam by contacting the amalgam with an aqueous media in the presence of the said polyphase packing.
Claims18
A polyphase packing material for alkali metal mercury amalgam denuders comprising a sintered mixture of at least one powdered valve metal boride and at least one valve metal carbide and also containing at least one member of the group consisting of 0.5 to 10% by weight of at least one metal of group VIII of the Periodic Table and 1 to 30% by weight of graphite.
In an alkali metal mercury amalgam denuder comprising a vessel containing a catalytic material, means for introducing alkali metal mercury amalgam at the top, means for introducing water, means for recovering hydrogen and means for removal of aqueous alkali metal hydroxide solution, the improvement comprising using as the catalytic material a polyphase packing material comprising a sintered mixture of at least one powdered valve metal boride and at least one valve metal carbide.
A method of decomposing alkali metal mercury amalgam comprising contacting an alkali metal mercury amalgam with water in the presence of a polyphase packing material comprising a sintered mixture of at least one powdered valve metal boride and at least one valve metal carbide.
A polyphase packing material for an alkali metal mercury amalgam denuder comprising a sintered mixture of 30 to 80% by weight of at least one valve metal boride, 80 to 30% by weight of at least one valve metal carbide and at least one member of the group consisting of 1 to 30% by weight of graphite and 0.5 to 10% by weight of at least one metal of group VIII of the Periodic Table.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.