Lithium transport cell process
US4780186A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 22, 1987 |
| Grant date | Oct 25, 1988 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 22, 2007 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC C)Chemistry; Metallurgy
- CPC primaryC25C3/02
- WIPO fieldSurface technology, coating
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
The present invention provides a process for recovering lithium from an aluminum-lithium alloy scrap including heating a lithium chloride-potassium chloride-lithium fluoride salt mixture in a separate bath melter vessel to form a molten salt bath reservoir; fluxing the molten salt with chlorine or hydrogen chloride gas to remove moisture; drying the aluminum-lithium scrap; heating the dried aluminum-lithium alloy scrap to form a molten reservoir of aluminum-lithium alloy; feeding low moisture molten salt and aluminum-lithium alloy to a three-layered electrolysis cell comprising a most dense lowest layer of molten aluminum-lithium alloy, a middle layer of molten salt electrolyte, and an uppermost layer of molten lithium; passing direct current through the cell with the aluminum-lithium alloy anodic; reducing lithium ions to lithium metal at a cathode suspended in the molten salt electrolyte; and removing lithium from said uppermost layer in said three-layered electrolysis cell.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.