Retrieval of high value refractory metals from alloys and mixtures
AssigneeOrchard Material Technology, LLC
InventorsLawrence F. McHugh, Leonid N. Shekhter, Yuri V. Blagoveshchenskiy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Recovery of a metal from scrap materials or other source materials containing two or more metals or other materials by iodization of the materials or parts of them to create multiple metal iodides of respective metals, separating the iodides and dissociating at least one of the iodides to recover its metal component.
Claims14
Method of recovering target component metals from a source material comprising alloys or other natural or synthesized mixtures of metals in elemental form or as metal compounds, the target component metals of source material being selected as two or more from the group consisting of rhenium, tantalum, niobium, tungsten, molybdenum, nickel, cobalt and iron, but including at least one of rhenium, tantalum, molybdenum, tungsten, niobium as target metal and comprising the steps of:
- (a) heating the material with iodine to convert at least some of the component metals to metal iodides, (b) separating the iodides by fractional volatilization or condensation, (c) at a temperature above 1000° C., converting at least one metal iodide so produced, to a metal product and iodine, and (d) looping recovered iodine back to step (a).
Method of processing a mixture of source materials with two or more mixed metallic components including at least one target metal component to be extracted from the said source mixture comprising the steps of:
- (a) converting two or more of the component metals to metal iodides by heating in the presence of iodine, (b) separating the metal iodides by fractional volatilization or condensation, (c) at a temperature above 1000° C., converting at least one target metal iodide to the target metal and (d) looping iodine back to step (a).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.