Reclaiming scrap in a high-purity form would greatly economize the use of this expensive metal. High-purity beryllium metal is desired for use in the nuclear field and in metallurgical research leading to the utilization of its favorable light weight and strength in space vehicles. Gurklis, Beach, and Faust employed fused-salt electrolysis for refining beryllium metal.Įlectrorefining may be used (1) to produce high-purity metals and (2) to reclaim scrap metals in a useful, form. References to the production of beryllium metal by fused-salt electrolysis may be found in the literature: Illig and The Siemens Company published information on fluoride baths, Windecker described the working of chloride baths and Kjellgren and Tien independently reported their results on low-melting chloride mixtures. This technique offers the possibility of producing a grade of beryllium purer than that now generally available, which may have better mechanical properties. Qualitative spectrographic analyses of the metal products indicated that impurities were reduced. ft.Ĭurrent efficiencies ranging from 87 to 96 percent were obtained. percent BeCl2 cell voltages of 0.30 to 0.80 and initial cathode current densities of 50 to 435 a./sq. an inert atmosphere bath compositions of (1) 38.1 mol. Operating cell conditions were: Temperatures of 450° to 600° C. Thin, platelike crystals of beryllium metal were produced by electrolyzing technical-grade beryllium metal beads (about 94-percent purity) as the soluble anode. Certainly the procedure offers an encouraging route for recovery and purification of beryllium scrap and possibly for production of a high-purity metal.A brief investigation was made to determine the feasibility of electrorefining beryllium in a KCl-LiCl-BeCl2 bath. Although gaseous element contaminants were not determined for products of these tests, results obtained from similar electrorefining of titanium would indicate a reduction in such impurities. Nickel, zinc, chromium, cobalt, lead, and barium were not in the products. Among the trace impurities, aluminum, silver, boron, and titanium still showed up in the products but at less than 0.05 percent, the lower limit of measurable detection.

Calcium was not detected in most products. Iron, copper, silicon, and manganese were reduced by at least a slight amount and possibly as high as 90 percent. Qualitative spectrograph analyses of the starting material and the products indicate the following estimated percentages of reduction of metallic impurities: Magnesium was reduced by at least 50 percent. Results of the preliminary tests have demonstrated the possibility of electrorefining beryllium in KCl-LiCl-BeCl2 baths.

Cathode reaction becl2