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Carbochlorination of tantalum and niobium oxides: Thermodynamic simulation and kinetic modeling
Author(s) -
Yang Fenglin,
Hlavacek Vladimir
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690450315
Subject(s) - tantalum , niobium , thermodynamics , reactivity (psychology) , materials science , phase boundary , chemistry , phase (matter) , chemical reaction , chemical engineering , metallurgy , organic chemistry , medicine , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Carbochlorination reactions of tantalum and niobium pentoxides represent an interesting route of extraction of tantalum and niobium from ores or minerals. Both reactions have not been systematically studied in the literature. The kinetic study reported here was carried out in a fixed‐bed reactor in a temperature domain T = 800–1,000°C. The products of the reaction under the conditions studied are in the gaseous phase. With CO as a reducing agent, the reactions in question are of the noncatalytic gas–solid type, and the experimental data fit the shrinking core model. When using carbon as a reducing agent, the reactions are of the gas–solid–solid type, and the reactivity is much higher than that using CO alone. A reaction model based on phase boundary control was used to process the experimental data. Thermodynamic calculations revealed that at temperatures below 1,000°C the carbochlorination reactions result in the corresponding pentachlorides.