Chlorination kinetics of aluminum bearing minerals
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T H E Bureau of Mines h a s b e e n engaged for s e v e r a l y e a r s in r e s e a r c h to develop an e l e c t r o l y t i c p r o c e s s for the p r o d u c t i o n of a l u m i n u m m e t a l f r o m a l u m i n u m chloride. This r e s e a r c h r e s u l t e d in the s u c c e s s f u l o p e r a t i o n of a s i n g l e - c o m p a r t m e n t cell. ~ A m a j o r a l u m i n u m p r o d u c e r r e c e n t l y announced p l a n s to build a s e m i w o r k s for the e l e c t r o w i n n i n g of a l u m i n u m f r o m the chloride b a s e d on s i m i l a r patented d e v e l 0 P m e n t s f l Adoption of a l u m i n u m production v i a the e l e c t r o l y s i s of a l u m i n u m c h l o r i d e r e q u i r e s l a r g e s c a l e c h l o r i n a tion techniques, p r e f e r a b l y u s i n g d o m e s t i c m i n e r a l r e s o u r c e s . About 30,000 tons of a l u m i n u n chloride a r e produced a n n u a l l y for use as c a t a l y s t s in c e r t a i n p e t r o l e u m p r o c e s s e s and o r g a n i c technology; however, these c a t a l y s t s a r e u s u a l l y produced by r e a c t i n g a l u m i n u m m e t a l and e l e m e n t a l c h l o r i n e , s The p r e s e n t i n v e s t i g a t i o n was u n d e r t a k e n to d e t e r m i n e the c h l o r i n a tion k i n e t i c s of two d o m e s t i c m i n e r a l s , clay and low grade bauxite, which could be used as s o u r c e s of a l u m i n u m chloride for r e d u c t i o n to the m e t a l . The a l u m i n u m chloride produced f r o m such a d i r e c t c h l o r i nation would contain i m p u r i t i e s (notably iron, s i l i c o n , and t i t a n i u m c h l o r i d e s ) which would have to be r e moved before it could be used in an e l e c t r o l y t i c cell as p r e s e n t l y proposed. P r o d u c t p u r i f i c a t i o n is not considered here. EXPERIMENTAL Procedure The e x p e r i m e n t a l t e c h n i q u e s used in this r e s e a r c h were given in detail in a publication d e s c r i b i n g a s i m i l a r study of the c h l o r i n a t i o n k i n e t i c s of Z r O v 4 Because the products were v o l a t i l e at the r e a c t i o n t e m p e r a t u r e s , the p r o g r e s s of the r e a c t i o n could be followed by weighing the u n r e a c t e d oxide(s). In e x p e r i m e n t s u s i n g c a r b o n the r e a c t i o n was stopped so that the u n r e a c t e d c a r b o n and oxide could be s e p a r a t e d and weighed. When the r e a c t a n t s were c h l o r i n e and c a r b o n monoxide or phosgene, the oxide s a m p l e was weighed continuously and a u t o m a t i c a l l y . Materials T h r e e p r e p a r e d m a t e r i a l s and two m i n e r a l s w e r e used in this study. A l u m i n u m oxide was p r e p a r e d by A. LANDSBERGis Chemical Engineer, Albany Metallurgy Research Center, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Albany, Oregon 97321. Manuscript submitted July 17, 1974. METALLURGICAL TRANSACTIONS B
mixing an a l u m i n u m c h l o r i d e solution with e x c e s s c o n c e n
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