Metal chlorides and metals obtained from metal oxide containing materials

A method for preparing at least aluminum chloride from at least one of coal mine waste and coal fired power plant ash, the at least one of coal mine waste and coal fired power plant ash comprising non-combustible material comprising at least aluminum silicate and combustible material, comprising:

• (a) introducing fine particles of the at least one of coal mine waste and coal fired power plant ash into a calciner, combusting the combustible material in the calciner in an oxidizing atmosphere to provide heat content and calcining the non-combustible material under temperature conditions sufficient to cause a change in structure of an alumosilicate framework of the noncombustible material by breaking bonds in the alumosilicate framework to cause decomposition to obtain a resulting calcined product comprising metal oxides and without causing fusing of the metal oxides, the metal oxides including at least aluminum oxide;
• and
• (b) selectively chlorinating the resulting calcined product of (a) in a fluidized bed chlorinator by carbochlorination in the absence of a catalyst, including introducing (i) the resulting calcined product of (a), (ii) a chlorinating agent comprising a source of chlorine so that chlorine is present in a stoichiometric amount of chlorine based on content of the metal oxides, and (iii) a reducing agent consisting of particles of coal into the fluidized bed chlorinator including an inert gas as a fluidizing media to obtain mixing of the resulting calcined product, the chlorinating agent and the particles of coal after introduction into the fluidized bed chlorinator;
• the selectively chlorinating including determining a content of oxides in the resulting calcined product and using an amount of a source of chlorine and an amount of coal based upon the determining to thereby form a product gas comprising at least aluminum chloride from the resulting calcined product without substantial formation of non-metal chloride, the without substantial formation of non-metal chloride including formation of less than about 5 wt. % non-metal chloride based on total weight of the metal oxides.