Electrolytic production of neodymium metal from a molten chloride electrolyte. Rept. of Investigations/1991

Electrowinning of neodymium metal was accomplished by using a molten-metal cathode at 650 C and an electrolyte of 50 mol pct neodymium chloride-50 mol pct potassium chloride. The molten-metal cathodes were alloys of magnesium and zinc or magnesium and cadmium. Current efficiencies were 90 pct with a Mg/Zn cathode and 80 pct with a Mg-Cd cathode. The Mg-Cd cathode was easily separated from the electrolyte. In contrast, the Mg-Zn cathode tended to mix with the electrolyte, making separation difficult. The cathode metals were separated from the neodymium by distillation at 1,100 C under a vacuum of 10 to the -3rd power torr. Neodymium metal of 99.9+ purity was recovered from the Mg-Cd alloy cathode after 30 min distillation time. The neodymium recovered from the Mg-Zn system contained almost 2 pct Zn after vacuum distillation. Continuous operation using the Mg-Cd alloy cathode was demonstrated