The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 15, 1989
Filed:
May. 17, 1988
Tomoo Kirihara, Aichi, JP;
Ippei Nakagawa, Aichi, JP;
Yoshinobu Seki, Ibaraki, JP;
Yutaka Honda, Ibaraki, JP;
Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A process of separation of hafnium from zirconium by molten salt electrolysis in which zirconium tetrachloride with ordinary hafnium tetrachloride content is dissolved in a molten salt and the zirconium tetrachloride is electrolytically reduced to zirconium trichloride with lower hafnium content at a cathode in the molten salt and hafnium tetrachloride is remained. Next, the cathode on which the zirconium trichloride is formed by the cathode reaction is used as an anode. The electrolytic reduction of zirconium tetrachloride at another cathode in the molten salt is carried out and at the same time the zirconium trichloride formed on the anode is oxidized to zirconium tetrachloride with a low hafnium content and the zirconium tetrachloride is evaporated for separation. The obtained zirconium tetrachloride containing a low hafnium content is suitable for production of reactor grade zirconium containing about 100 ppm of hafnium.