MUTUAL SEPARATION OF RARE EARTH CHLORIDE MIXTURES USING A DRY PROCESS
火法气态传输分离混合稀土氯化物

Mutual separation of neighboring rare earth elements has been investigated from their binary chloride mixtures LaCl3-CeCl3, CeCl3-PrCl3, PrCl3-NdCl3 and their quaternary chloride mixtures LaCl3-CeCl3-PrCl3-NdCl3 by using a dry process (i.e. chemical vapour transport process), in which the aluminium chloride is selected as complex former.The separation factors from the binary chloride mixtures are 12.3 for La : Ce, 5.79 for Pr:Ce and 1.32 for Pr: Nd. An higher separation factor of Pr:Nd=1.98 was also observed from their quaternary chloride mixture.