US2016208363A1PendingUtilityA1

Processes for recovering tantalum and niobium with carbon tetrachloride

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Assignee: CVMR CORPPriority: Sep 20, 2013Filed: Sep 19, 2014Published: Jul 21, 2016
Est. expirySep 20, 2033(~7.2 yrs left)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Dmitri TerekhovKamran KhozanNanthakumar Victor EmmanuelJin Yong Zhiu
C01F 7/56C22B 5/16C22B 5/04C22B 5/12C22B 34/24Y02P10/20C01G 19/04C01G 23/02C01G 33/00C01G 35/02C01G 49/0009
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Claims

Abstract

There is provided a method of treating solid material, wherein the solid material includes target metallic material and one or more other metallic elements, wherein the target metallic material consists of at least one of tantalum and niobium, the method comprising contacting the solid material with a gaseous reagent material within a reaction zone, wherein the gaseous reagent material includes carbon tetrachloride.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
1 . A method of treating solid material, wherein the solid material includes target metallic material and one or more other metallic elements, wherein the target metallic material consists of at least one of tantalum and niobium, the method comprising contacting the solid material with a gaseous reagent material within a reaction zone, wherein the gaseous reagent material includes carbon tetrachloride. 
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the target metallic material consists of tantalum. 
     
     
         3 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the target metallic material consists of niobium. 
     
     
         4 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the target metallic material consists of tantalum and niobium. 
     
     
         5 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  4 , wherein the solid material includes solid particulate material. 
     
     
         6 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  4 , wherein the solid material is solid particulate material, and wherein at least 90 weight % of the solid particulate material has a diameter of less than one millimetre. 
     
     
         7 . The method as claimed in any one of  claim 1 ,  2 ,  4 ,  5 , or  6 , wherein the tantalum includes tantalum that is present in one or more oxides of tantalum. 
     
     
         8 . The method as claimed in any one of  claim 1 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 , or  7 , wherein the niobium includes niobium that is present in one or more oxides of niobium. 
     
     
         9 . The method as claimed in any one of  claim 1 ,  2 ,  4 ,  5 , or  6 , wherein the tantalum consists of tantalum that is present in one or more oxides of tantalum. 
     
     
         10 . The method as claimed in any one of  claim 1 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 , or  8 , wherein the niobium consists of niobium that is present in one or more oxides of niobium. 
     
     
         11 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  10 , wherein the one or more other metallic elements include one or more naturally occurring radioactive elements. 
     
     
         12 . The method as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein the one or more naturally occurring radioactive elements include at least one of uranium and thorium. 
     
     
         13 . The method as claimed in any one of  claim 1 ,  2 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 .  7 ,  9 ,  11 , or  12 , or, so long as the target metallic material includes tantalum, any one of  claims 8  and  10 , wherein the solid material includes between 5 weight % and 40 weight % tantalum, based on the total weight of the solid material. 
     
     
         14 . The method as claimed in any one of  claim 1 ,  3 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  8 ,  10 ,  11 ,  12 , or  13 , or, so long as the target metallic material includes niobium, any one of  claim 7  or  9 , wherein the solid material includes between 1 weight % and 40 weight % niobium, based on the total weight of the solid material. 
     
     
         15 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  14 , wherein the solid material includes between 10 weight % and 80 weight % target metallic material, based on the total weight of the solid material. 
     
     
         16 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  15 , wherein the solid material includes between 0.01 weight % and 0.5 weight % naturally occurring radioactive elements, based on the total weight of the solid material 
     
     
         17 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  16 , wherein the solid material is derived from coltan ore. 
     
     
         18 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  17 , wherein the reaction zone is disposed at a temperature of less than 400 degrees Celsius. 
     
     
         19 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  17 , wherein the reaction zone is disposed at a temperature of between 150 degrees Celsius and 400 degrees Celsius. 
     
     
         20 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  17 , wherein the reaction zone is disposed at a temperature of between 150 degrees Celsius and 300 degrees Celsius. 
     
     
         21 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  20 , wherein the gaseous reagent material includes at least 40 mol % carbon tetrachloride, based on the total moles of the gaseous reagent material. 
     
     
         22 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  21 , wherein, within the reaction zone, the ratio of moles of the carbon tetrachloride to moles of the target metallic material is at least 2.5. 
     
     
         23 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  22 , wherein, within the reaction zone, the ratio of moles of the carbon tetrachloride to moles of the target metallic material is between 2.5 and 5. 
     
     
         24 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  23 , wherein the solid material consists of the target metallic material and other material, and wherein the contacting effects production of a gaseous reaction product, wherein the ratio of moles of the target metallic material within the gaseous reaction product to moles of the other material within the gaseous reaction product is greater than the ratio of moles of the target metallic material within the solid material to moles of the other material within the solid material. 
     
     
         25 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  23 , wherein the solid material consists of the target metallic material and other material, and wherein the contacting effects production of a gaseous reaction product, wherein the ratio of moles of the target metallic material within the gaseous reaction product to moles of the other material within the gaseous reaction product is greater than the ratio of moles of the target metallic material within the solid material to moles of the other material within the solid material by a multiple of at least 2. 
     
     
         26 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  25 , further comprising separating from the gaseous reaction product, a target metallic material-rich product and a target metallic material-lean product, wherein the concentration of the target metallic material within the target metallic material-rich product is greater than the concentration of the target metallic material within the target metallic material-lean product. 
     
     
         27 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  25 , further comprising separating, from the gaseous reaction product, a target metallic material-rich product and a target metallic material-lean product, based on differences in volatility as between the target metallic material-rich product and the target metallic material-lean product, wherein the concentration of the target metallic material within the target metallic material-rich product is greater than the concentration of the target metallic material within the target metallic material-lean product. 
     
     
         28 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  25 , further comprising separating, from the gaseous reaction product, a target metallic material-rich product, based on differences in volatility as between the target metallic material-rich product and a residue, deriving from the gaseous reaction product, whose production is also effected by the separating, wherein the concentration of the target metallic material within the target metallic material-rich product is greater than the concentration of the target metallic material within the residue. 
     
     
         29 . The method as claimed in any one  claims 1  to  28 , wherein the separating, from the gaseous reaction product, of a target metallic material-rich product and a target metallic material-lean product includes cooling the gaseous reaction product so as to effect desublimation of at least a fraction of the gaseous reaction product and effect production of a desublimed product, and heating the desublimed product so as to effect sublimation of at least a fraction of the solidified reaction product and effect production of a sublimed product, wherein the sublimed product defines the target metallic material-rich product. 
     
     
         30 . The method as claimed in any one of  claims 1  to  29 , wherein the reaction zone is disposed at between 7 bar and 12 bar. 
     
     
         31 . A method of reducing niobium chloride comprising contacting niobium chloride with aluminium. 
     
     
         32 . A method of reducing tantalum chloride comprising contacting tantalum chloride with aluminium.

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