Mechanochemical Synthesis of High-Purity Anhydrous Binary Alkali and Alkaline Earth Chloride Mixtures

Phillip W. Halstenberg, Dmitry Maltsev, Dianna Nguyen, Ellie Kim, Sheng Dai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

A direct synthesis route for high-purity, anhydrous binary salt mixtures has been developed. This atom efficient, solvent-free process is easily scalable, with the potential to produce salt mixtures that meet the purity standards required for industrial heat transfer and nuclear applications. The essence of the methodology lies in mechanochemical synthesis of carnallite precursors that can mitigate the hydrolysis of MgCl2·6H2O under direct heating. Each dehydrated salt carnallite was then analyzed for purity and oxide content through subsequent powder X-ray diffraction, and strong acid titration. This process presents a more effective alternative route compared to previous methods for obtaining low-oxide, high-purity chloride salt mixtures.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19884-19889
Number of pages6
JournalIndustrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
Volume59
Issue number45
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 11 2020

Funding

P.H. and S.D. were supported as part of the Molten Salts in Extreme Environments Energy Frontier Research Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. D.M. was supported as part of the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy Nuclear Energy University Program. ORNL operates under DOE contract DE- AC05-00OR22725.

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