Low temperature alkali metal electrolysis
AssigneeE. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorsStephen Ernest Jacobson, Dennie Turin Mah
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Abstract
A low temperature electrolysis process that can be used for producing an alkali metal from an alkali metal halide is provided, which comprises electrolyzing an electrolyte composition comprising at least one alkali metal halide and a co-electrolyte comprising (a) a halide or halides of Group IIIA, Group IB, or Group VIII metals and (b) a halide-donating compound.
Claims32
A process for producing an alkali metal comprising introducing an electrolyte into an electrolytic cell and carrying out electrolysis with said electrolyte to produce said alkali metal at the cathode and halogen at the anode of said cell wherein said electrolyte comprises or is produced by combining at least one alkali metal halide and a co-electrolyte;
- said co-electrolyte comprises (1) at least one halide selected from the group consisting of Group IB halide, Group IIIA halide, Group VIII halide, and combinations of two or more thereof and (2) a halide-donating compound, which is capable of reacting with a Lewis acid by donating a halogen atom.
A process for producing an alkali metal comprising introducing an electrolyte into an electrolytic cell and carrying out an electrolysis with said electrolyte, which comprises at least one alkali metal halide and a co-electrolyte wherein said co-electrolyte comprises (a) at least one halide selected from the group consisting of Group IB halide, Group IIIA halide, and Group VIII halide and (b) a halide-donating compound wherein
- said process is carried out under a temperature below about 200° C.;
- said process is carried out such that a molten layer of said alkali metal is produced at the cathode and halogen is produced at the anode of said cell;
- said at least one halide is selected from the group consisting of aluminum halide, boron halide, antimony halide, iron halide, cobalt halide, nickel halide, and combinations of two or more thereof;
- and
- said halide-donating compound is RSO2X, RP(O)X2, or combinations thereof;
- R is —CX′3, —N═PX3, —(CX2)nCX3, or combinations of two or more thereof;
- X is halogen;
- X′ is hydrogen, halogen, or combinations thereof, and n=3-7.
A process for producing sodium comprising electrolyzing, in an electrolytic cell, an electrolyte comprising (1) sodium chloride and (2) a co-electrolyte selected from the group consisting of (a) aluminum chloride and methanesulfonyl chloride, (b) aluminum chloride and trichlorophosphazosulfonyl chloride, (c) aluminum chloride and trichilorophosphazophosphoryl chloride, and (d) combinations of any two of (a), (b), and (c) wherein said process is carried out under a temperature below about 200° C. to produce sodium at the cathode and chloride at the anode of said cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.