seminar series Electrometallurgical Extraction for Metal ...
Transcript of seminar series Electrometallurgical Extraction for Metal ...
Electrometallurgical Extraction for Metal Winning
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING
seminar seriesSEMINAR SERIES
Thursday, October 26 | 4 P.M. | HH 202
Electrometallurgical processes for metal production represent a unique processing-strategy for metal-production. Electrolysis of a liquid electrolyte, containing the metal-bearing constituent, is the basis of this method of metal extraction. Electrodes (cathode and anode) provide for the injection and removal of reagent- and product-electrons, circulated through the electrical-circuit, by employing an "electron pump" (power supply). The intrinsic fundamental-principles involved can be complex and consequently present a challenging endeavor for its successful implementation. Electrolysis performed with molten-salt electrolytes represent the most-complex class of systems in this regard. The presentation consists of a retrospective of the speaker’s experience in the field of electrometallurgical extraction- processes by molten-salt electrolysis. Three case-studies will be reviewed: 1) magnesium electrowinning, 2) FFC (Fray-Farthing-Chen) alternative titanium production from TiO2 via a CaCl2-based molten salt electrolyte and 3) electrowinning of rare earth metals. In general these molten-salt electrolytic processes incorporate electrode (electron transfer) and physicochemical phenomena. In the operation of an electrolytic cell, in addition to the electron-transfer processes, there are several other potentially rate-controlling ancillary-processes associated with the physicochemical phenomena, which can influence the electro-reduction performance of the cell.
METALLURGY.MINES.EDU
MATT EARLAMInfiniumMatt Earlam received both his Bachelor’s (1982) and Master’s degree (1984) in Metallurgical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines. Matt’s 33-year career has been primarily in the Electrometallurgical Processing Industry: he joined Dow Chemical Co. in 1984 and after a 13 year career, spent the next 14 years at TIMET , devoted to electrolytic magnesium production for use in titanium manufacturing, and conducted research on an alternative Ti-Production route. In 2011 he moved to Colorado to join Molycorp Minerals and served as manager of their rare-earth electro-production effort until 2013. He is currently manager of metal process-engineering at Infinium where he has devoted his efforts to a wide range of molten-salt electrolysis processes. During his long career, Matt has shared his vast knowledge on molten-salt electrolysis as a presenter at technical meetings and as a co-author and author of journal publications. He has been granted 5 patents, two as sole inventor and three as co-inventor