Use of iron reactive anode in electrowinning of neodymium from neodymium oxideShow others and affiliations
2019 (English)In: Electrochimica Acta, ISSN 0013-4686, E-ISSN 1873-3859, Vol. 310, p. 146-152Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Electrolytic production of metallic neodymium is carried out in fused neodymium fluoride salts containing neodymium oxide. Two major challenges pertaining to neodymium production in fluoride salts are a) low solubility of neodymium oxide in fluoride melt, b) possibility of anodic gas evolution (CO, CO2, CF4, C2F6). In this study, iron is used as a reactive anode in the electrolysis process, promoting electrochemical dissolution of iron into the melt, preventing PFC (perfluorocarbon) gas evolution at the anode. Further, the rare earth oxide is converted to rare earth fluoride by the use of iron fluoride formed as the result of iron dissolution. Thus, the fluoridizing agent is constantly regenerated in-situ which enables the continuous conversion of neodymium oxide feed. The cathodic product is Nd-Fe alloy which can be used as a master alloy for the production of NdFeB magnets.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD , 2019. Vol. 310, p. 146-152
Keywords [en]
Rare earths, Electrochemical extraction, Reactive anode, PFC gas, Molten salts
National Category
Materials Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-252586DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2019.03.161ISI: 000467691200016Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85065475105OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-252586DiVA, id: diva2:1322834
Note
QC 20190611
2019-06-112019-06-112022-09-08Bibliographically approved