Amon Alfred, Moore Emily E, Henderson Hunter B, Shittu Jibril, Kunz Martin, Kastamo Shane, Huotari Nikolai, Loukus Adam, Ott Ryan, Weiss David, McCall Scott K
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Mater Horiz. 2024 May 20;11(10):2382-2387. doi: 10.1039/d4mh00087k.
Cerium oxide is a low-value byproduct of rare-earth mining yet constitutes the largest fraction of the rare earth elements. The reduction of cerium oxide by liquid aluminum is proposed as an energy- and cost-efficient route to produce high-strength Al-Ce alloys. This work investigated the mechanism of a multi-step reduction reaction to facilitate the industrial adaptation of the process. Differential scanning calorimetry in combination with time-resolved synchrotron diffraction data uncovered the rate-limiting reaction step as the origin of the reported temperature dependence of reduction efficiency. This is the first study of a metallothermic reaction mechanism and will serve as guidance for cost- and energy efficient industrial process control.
氧化铈是稀土开采的低价值副产品，但却是稀土元素中占比最大的部分。有人提出用液态铝还原氧化铈是生产高强度铝铈合金的一种节能且经济高效的途径。这项工作研究了多步还原反应的机理，以促进该工艺在工业上的应用。差示扫描量热法结合时间分辨同步加速器衍射数据揭示了限速反应步骤是所报道的还原效率与温度相关性的根源。这是对金属热反应机理的首次研究，将为经济高效的工业过程控制提供指导。
