Patent Grant
7014881
The present invention relates to electrolysis in a cell having an inert anode such as a ceramic of cermet anode comprising multi-element oxides. More particularly, the invention relates to synthesizing extremely fine powders useful in such inert anodes where the powders are made by gel-co-precipitation methods.
The energy and cost efficiency of aluminum smelting can be significantly reduced with the use of inert, non-consumable and dimensionally stable anodes. Replacement of traditional carbon anodes with inert anodes allows a highly productive cell design to be utilized, thereby reducing capital costs. Significant environmental benefits are also possible because inert anodes produce essentially no CO2 or CF4 emissions. Some examples of inert anode compositions are provided, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,794,112 and 5,865,980, assigned to the assignee of the present application. These patents are incorporated herein by reference.
A significant challenge to the commercialization of inert anode technology is the anode material. Researchers have been searching for suitable inert anode materials since the early years of the Hall-Heroult process. The anode material must satisfy a number of very difficult conditions. For example, the material must not react with or dissolve to any significant extent in the cryolite electrolyte. It must not react with oxygen or corrode in an oxygen-containing atmosphere. It should be thermally stable at temperatures of about 1,000° C. It must be relatively inexpensive and should have good mechanical strength. It must have high electrical conductivity at the smelting cell operating temperatures, of about 900° C. to 1,000° C., so that the voltage drop at the anode is low.
Oxides that are particularly well suited for processing into advanced inert, non-consumable and dimensionally stable anodes, such as, for example, MxFe3−xO4±δ, where x from 0 to 3, M represents one or more elements selected from at least one of the group of Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, Cr, Mn, Al, Sc, Y, La, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Pd, Ag, Ca, Sr, or Sn, respectively, and δ is a variable dependent on process conditions. The oxides are used alone or with a metal phase including copper and/or at least one noble metal, and are usually made by conventional solid-state reaction techniques, which require repeat ball milling of calcined oxide powders. This conventional method often produces chemically inhomogeneous oxide powders with larger particle sizes and wide size distribution. The chemically inhomogeneous oxides can cause second phases present on fired parts that affect their performance. Large particle size requires time-consuming grinding/milling. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,794,112 and 5,865,980 (both Ray et al.) taught ball milling a mixture of NiO and Fe2O3 that had already been mixed, ground and calcined for 12 hours at 1250° C. Particles of about 10 micrometers average particle size were the end product after about 40 hr. ball milling.
Djega-Marinadassou et., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,185 taught making zinc oxide based powder for varistors by providing a mixture of zinc nitrate or zinc chloride with a minor amount of, for example, cobalt nitrate to provide a mixed solution in water and then providing a bismuth nitrate or lead nitrate solution. Both solutions were added to a given volume of ammonia buffer solution, pre-saturated by cations of the elements to be precipitated—zinc and cobalt, kept at a defined pH, leading to precipitation of the hydroxides to provide a co-precipitate. The co-precipitate is then filtered, dried at room temperature, and finally calcined at 700° C. to provide a homogeneous oxide material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,759 (Richardson et al.) taught Y Ba2Cu3O6+x metal oxide superconductors by co-precipitation of respective nitrates using alkali hydroxide as a precipitating agent, followed by filtration, washing in the presence of CO2, drying, firing and cooling.
An earlier process by Goldman et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,392 taught manufacturing ferrimagnetic material, such as manganese-zinc ferrites, for magnetic ceramics to provide a more homogeneous product. There, pure metals were used as the starting materials in making the aqueous metal ion solution rather than salts of the metals, where other metals such as zinc, manganese, nickel and magnesium can be added to the iron metal ions. The aqueous metal ion solution is then reacted with an ammonium, sodium or potassium carbonate solution to concurrently co-precipitate ferrous hydroxide and one of the other metals without conversion to ferric ions in a manner to provide a selected ratio between carbonate and hydroxide groups. The co-precipitated material is then separated from the liquid phase and dried. U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,950 (Imamura et al.) is another patent in this area, where ceramic oxide provides for filters, capacitors or oxygen sensors are synthesized. There, a liquid absorbent resin is combined with solutions containing organo-metallic compounds and solutions containing metallic salt compounds. The resin then swells and gels. A precursor material is then prepared by changing the pH and/or temperature of the swollen gel. After pyrolyzing and calcining, a mixed metal oxide powder is formed, providing more homogeneous, smaller sized powders than either co-precipitation or repeated ball milling and providing a much less expensive process than sol-gel routes which usually involve use of very expensive precursors.
While all of these approaches have various advantages, in methods by Djega-Mariadassou et al. and Goldman et al., there are three drawbacks: 1) because different metals tend to precipitate out at different pH, it causes non-homogeneous precipitates which will give non-homogeneous final products; 2) the precipitate needs to be separated/filtered from solution. There are always residual metal cations left in the solution that usually lead to final composition shift; 3) if alkali hydroxides/carbonates are used, the residual alkali cation will contaminate the final products. Method by Imamura et al. used resin to form a gel then pyrolyze and calcine the gel. The large amount of resin not only increases the cost but also causes CO/CO2 during pyrolyzing and calcining. What is needed is a simpler approach than that of Inamura et al. while still solving the problems of co-precipitation and sol-gel processing cited by Imamura et al.
The present invention has been developed in view of the foregoing and to address other deficiencies of the prior art.
The present invention provides an inert anode including at least one ceramic phase material which comprises multi-component oxides. The inert anode may also comprise at least one metal phase including copper and/or at least one noble metal. An aspect of the invention is to provide an inert anode composition suitable for use in a molten salt bath.
It is one of the main objects of this invention to provide a wet process for producing multi-element metal oxide particulates in the nanometer crystallite size scale. It is another object of this invention to provide an inexpensive gel-co-precipitation process to produce the above particulates. The product of these processes can then be spray-dried and pressed, then sintered to form inert anodes for electrolytic cells.
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished by providing a method of producing an inert anode for an electrolytic metal cell where the anode is made from multi-element metal oxide powders containing at least three elements, comprising the steps: (a) providing a precursor aqueous solution comprising metal ions; (b) adjusting the pH of the precursor aqueous solution with a basic solution to the pH range of from 3 to 14 such that a gel is formed; (c) calcining the gel to provide metal oxide powder; (d) adding the metal oxide powder and a material comprising a binder to a solvent to form a slurry; (e) spray drying the slurry to form granules; and (f) pressing the granules. In step (d) dispersant can also be added and, if a cermet material is desired, also a metal powder, to create a ceramic-metal material. The invention is also directed to a method for producing an inert anode where the anode is made from fine, homogeneous multi-element metal oxide powders containing at least three elements, comprising the steps: a) providing a precursor aqueous solution by dissolving at least one material selected from the group consisting of metal salts, metal particles, metal oxides, and mixtures thereof, where the precursor aqueous solution contains metal ions; b) adjusting the pH of the precursor aqueous solution with a base solution in the pH range of from 3 to 14 such that a gel is formed; c) calcining the gel to provide metal oxide powder; d) adding the metal oxide powder and a binder to a solvent to form a slurry; e) spray drying the slurry to form granules; f) pressing the granules to form a green body; and g) firing the green body to form an inert anode. These inert anodes can be made of all ceramic oxides or also include a metal phase, where additional metal powder is added in step (d), to provide cermet inert anodes. A dispersant is also a helpful addition in Step (d) to help provide a homogenous slurry.
In another aspect of the invention, the inert anode is made by: a) providing a homogeneous precursor aqueous solution by dissolving materials selected from the group consisting of metal salts, metal particles, metal oxides, and mixtures thereof, where the precursor aqueous solution contains at least two metal ions selected from the group consisting of Ni, Fe, Cu, Co, Zn, Cr, Mn, Al, Sc, Y, La, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Pd, Ag, Ca, Sr, or Sn and mixtures thereof; b) adjusting the pH of the precursor aqueous solution with a base solution selected from at least one of ammonium hydroxide solution and organic base hydroxide solution, to the pH range of from 3 to 14 such that a gel is formed; c) optionally drying the gel; d) calcining the gel at from 400° C. to 1200° C. to provide metal oxide powder; e) optionally grinding (comminuting) the blend of metal oxide powder; f) adding the metal oxide powder and a material selected from at least one of a dispersant and binder to a solvent to provide a slurry; g) spray drying the slurry to form granules; h) pressing the granules to form a green body and firing the green body to form an inert anode. The powder formed in step d) has a particle size of from about 5 nanometers (nm) to 1000 nanometers, preferably 5 to 500 nanometers approximate diameter.
The term “homogeneous solution” as used herein means that all the constituents in the solvent are mixing uniformly at a molecular level. If the solvent is water, the solution is called an aqueous solution. The term “precursor” as used herein means input chemicals that lead to the final product. Metal powders include particulates or pellet metals with a volume less than 1 cubic cm. Binders are organic or inorganic additives in ceramic process to permit handling, machining, or other operations prior to being densified by firing. Organic binders include: polyvinyl alcohol (PVA); waxes; celluloses; dextrines; thermoplastic resins; thermosettling resins; alginates; rubbers; gums; starches; casein; gelatins; albumins; proteins; bitumen materials; acrylics; and vinyls; colloidal alumina, aluminates, aluminum silicates, and the like. The term “dispersant” means a surface active agent which enhances the dispersion of particles in a slurry by charge repulsion or steric hindrance in the slurry. Some examples of suitable dispersants includes amines, glyceryl trioleate, glyceryl monooleate, corn oil, menhaden fish oil, and surfactants. These are used, preferably, with the binder and metal powder. Suitable solvents include water, alcohol and mixtures thereof.
The most preferred method comprises the steps: a) providing a precursor by dissolving at least one material selected from the group consisting of metal salts, metal particles, metal oxides and mixtures thereof where the precursor aqueous solution contains at least two metal ions; b) adjusting the pH of the precursor aqueous solution with a base solution selected from at least one of ammonium hydroxide solution and organic base hydroxide solution, to the pH range of from 3 to 12 such that a co-precipitated gel is formed; c) spraying the co-precipitated gel into an oxidizing atmosphere at a temperature of from 400° C. to 1,200° C. to provide a blend of metal oxide powders having a homogeneous dispersion of the metal ions in the powder particles, said powders having a particle size of from about 5 nm to about 1000 nm; d) adding the powder and a material selected from at least one of a dispersant and binder to a solvent to provide a slurry; e) spray-drying the slurry to form granules, and f) pressing the granules to form a green body; and g) firing the green body to produce an inert anode.
Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will occur to persons skilled in the art from the following detailed description.
For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the following non-limiting figures, in which:
As used herein, the term “inert anode” means a substantially non-consumable anode which possesses satisfactory corrosion resistance and stability during the aluminum production process. These can be ceramic or cermet. The term “commercial purity aluminum” as used herein means aluminum which meets commercial purity standards upon production by an electrolytic reduction process. The commercial purity aluminum preferably comprises a maximum of 0.2 wt. % Fe, 0.034 wt. % Ni, and 0.034 wt. % for each of other elements. In a more preferred embodiment, the commercial purity aluminum comprises a maximum of 0.15 wt. % Fe, 0.03 wt. % Ni, and 0.03 wt. % for each of other elements. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the commercial purity aluminum comprises a maximum of 0.13 wt. % Fe, 0.03 wt. % Ni, and 0.03 wt. % for each of other elements. The commercial purity aluminum also preferably meets the following weight percentage standards for other types of impurities: 0.2 maximum Si; and 0.034 maximum for each of other impurities. The Si impurity level is more preferably kept below 0.15 wt. % or 0.10 wt. %, and other impurity levels are more preferably kept below 0.03 wt. %. It is noted that for every numerical range or limit set forth herein, all numbers with the range or limit including every fraction or decimal between its stated minimum and/or maximum are considered to be designated and disclosed by this description.
Cermet inert anodes of the present invention have at least one ceramic phase, and in a particular embodiment also have at least one metal phase. For cermets, the ceramic phase typically comprises at least 50 wt. % of the cermet, preferably from about 70 to about 90 wt. % of the cermet. At least a portion of the anode may comprise up to 100% of the ceramic phase. In one embodiment, the anode may comprise a cermet or metal core coated with the ceramic phase. In this embodiment, the outer ceramic layer preferably has a thickness of from 0.1 to 50 mm, more preferably from 0.2 to 10 mm.
The ceramic phase or ceramic inert anode can comprise oxides of nickel, iron and zinc or cobalt and is of the formula MxFe3−xO4±δ, where x from 0 to 3, M or more of the elements selected from Ni, Cu, Co, Zn, Cr, Mn, Al, Sc, Y, La, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Pd, Ag, Ca, Sr, or Sn respectively, and δ is a variable dependent on process conditions. In the foregoing formula, the oxygen stoichiometry is not necessarily equal to 4, but may change slightly up or down depending upon firing conditions by a magnitude of δ. The value of δ may range from 0 to 0.9, preferably from 0 to 0.6.
Table 1 lists some ternary Ni—Fe—Zn—O materials that my be suitable for use as the ceramic phase of the present inert anodes, as well as some comparison materials. In addition to the phases listed in Table 1, minor or trace amounts of other phases may be present.
Tables 2 and 3 list some Ni—Fe—Co—O and Ni—Zn—Al—Fe—O materials that may be suitable as the ceramic phase of the present inert anodes, as well as Co—Fe—O and Ni—Fe—O comparison materials. In addition to the phases listed in Table 2, minor or trace amounts of other phases may be present.
The inert anodes may be produced by techniques such as powder forming/sintering, slip casting, coating, hot pressing, or hot isostatic pressing (HIP) from oxide powders made by conventional solid state ceramic process (blending, calcining, ball-milling, etc.) or, preferably, as in this invention, by a gel co-precipitation technique.
The oxide compositions listed in the preceding tables and many other useful inert anode materials may be prepared and tested as follows. Oxide powders are synthesized by gel-co-precipitation approach. The first step is to make metal salt solutions, which include one or a mixture of chlorides, acetates, nitrates, tartarates, citrates and/or sulfates of Ni, Fe, Cu, Co, Zn, Cr, Mn, Al, Sc, Y, La, Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Pd, Ag, Ca, Sr, or Sn, and the like. Chlorides, acetates and nitrates are preferred precursors. The starting chemicals can be metal particles, metal salts, metal oxides or mixtures thereof Metal particles and oxide powders have to be dissolved into acid to form concentrated salt (ion) solutions. By “concentrated” is meant: total salt concentration is more than 20% by weight. After a homogeneous aqueous solution is prepared, that is a completely dissolved solution uniform throughout, the solution pH is then adjusted to from 3 to 14 by adding ammonium hydroxide or an organic base hydroxide while stirring.
Referring now to
The designed metal salts solution can be prepared by dissolving selected metals, metal oxides, metal salts or their mixture into the selected acid solution. Preferentially, in order to make sure all the metals are completely dissolved, a special procedure is developed. That is always adding the chemicals with least dissolution rate first to maximize the dissolution rate, and the one with fast dissolution rate is added last. For example, if the chemical sources are metal particles, the appropriate amount and concentration enough to dissolve all the metals of selected acid solutions is prepared first. The acid can be hydrochloric acid, acetate acid, nitric acid, tartarate acid, citrate acid and/or sulfuric acid. Add the metal with the slowest dissolution rate into the acid solution first, and add the method into the solution with the fastest dissolution rate last. If the chemical sources include metals and metal oxides, metals have to be dissolved in first as described above. Then metal oxides. If the chemical sources include metals, metal oxides, and metal salts, the sequence should be metals are added in first as described above, then metal oxides, and finally metal salts. In most cases, the solution is stirred and heated to speed up the dissolution rate as well as increase solubility. In step 120 various bases are added to the slurry to provide a partially co-precipitated gel 130. The gel containing solution can be dried and calcined in step 150 at the same time, or preferably dried in step 160 first. The dried gel 160 can then be calcined in step 190. Fine metal oxide powders 200 are provided which can optionally be ground to finer form of from about 5 nm to about 1000 nm.
Concentrated metal ions solution preparation will now be described. The preparation of high concentrated metal ion solution will increase production and save time as well as energy during drying.
From salts: 1) Choosing salts with high solubility, and 2) dissolving the salts in water to form an aqueous solution, at a higher temperature in the range of about 23° C. to 100° C., will improve the dissolution rate and solubility.
From metals: Because dissolving metals into the acid will generate hydrogen, apparatus with closed system are required to digest metals. This closed system can be composed of a sealed reactor with feeders on top. When metal powders are added, as in an aqueous slurry, off gas comes out through a trap which keeps residual chemicals in the gas flow and maintains pressure inside the reactor at 1 atmosphere. A special procedure has been developed for metal digestion. Various metals will require longer times for digestion, as shown in
From oxides: Same as digestion of metals, oxide particles need to be dissolved into an aqueous acid solution. Because no hydrogen will be generated, the process does not require a closed system. The same procedure for metal digestion will also be applied in oxide digestion.
From mixing of salts, metals, or oxides: According to the chemical precursors, metal ion solution can be prepared separately using above methods then mixing the solutions together. Or dissolving metal first, then oxides, and finally salts.
Gel-co-precipitation:
When dissolved in pure water, metal (M) salts are hydrolyzed by water molecules as:
Mz++H2O→[M−OH2]z+ (1)
For transition metal cations, charge transfer from the water molecule to the transition metals can occur. This in turn causes the partial charge on the hydrogen to increase, making the water molecule more acidic. Depending on the magnitude of the charge transfer the following equilibrium is established, which is defined as hydrolysis.
[M(H2O)n]z+=[M(H2O)n−1OH](z−1)++H+
The above hydrolysis can further condense and partially precipitate to:
2[M(H2O)n]z+=[(H2O)n−1M(OH)2M(H2O)n−1](2z−2)++2H+
Obviously addition of ammonium or an organic base hydroxide will accelerate the above reaction. The valence of the metal ion and pH of the solution determine whether the metal ion has H2O, OH— or O2− as their ligands. A gel-co-precipitate can be formed at appropriate pH range among those positively and negatively charged complexes by electrostatic forces for a given metal ions group. Because same metal ion complexes usually have same sign charges that will repel each other and they will likely attach to opposite charged other metal ion complexes. It will lead to a homogeneous gel-co-precipitate.
Washing/rinsing: because only ammonia/ammonium or organic base hydroxides are chosen, no washing/rinsing is necessary. It will prevent loss of some metal ions during washing/rinsing and preserve the initial designed composition.
Calcination: the gel-co-precipitates can be dried and then calcined in oxidized atmosphere at temperatures from 400° C. to 1200° C. Preferentially, the partially precipitate gel can be sprayed directly into oxidized atmosphere at temperatures from 400° C. to 1200° C. to produce oxide particles. A spray drier has a chamber that can either be heated from outside or from inside by passing hot air. The partially precipitated gel is sprayed into the hot chamber though an atomizer and is swirled around in the chamber by hot air circulating. The water evaporates and leaves dry and calcined powders.
Referring now in detail, a more specific description follows: Step 1 (100 in
Step 2 (110 in
From salts: 1) Choose salts with high solubility, for example, chlorides or nitrates of Ni and Fe have high solubility. 2) Dissolve the salts in de-ionized water, at a temperature from room temperature to 100° C. Higher temperature, stirring and rotation will improve the dissolution rate and solubility.
From metals: Because dissolving metals into the acid will generate hydrogen, apparatus with closed systems required to digest metals. A special procedure has been developed for metal digestion. Depending on the process, the appropriate amount and cocentration of selected acid solution is prepared first, the acid can be hydrochloric acid, acetate acid, nitric acid, tartarate acid, citrate acid and/or sulfuric acid. Add the metal with least dissolution rate into the acid solution first, and the last one added into the solution is the one with fastest dissolution rate. In order to improve the digestion rate, the acid solution can be heated up from room temperature up to 100° C.
Step 3 (steps 120 and 130 in
Step 4 (steps 150, 160 and 190 in
Step 5, optionally grinding/ball-mill: depending on calcination temperature, short time grinding/ball-milling may be applied to break up soft agglomeration.
Step 6 (steps 210 and 200 in
Step 7 (steps 220 of
While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiment, various changes, additions and modifications may be made without departing from the steps of the invention. Having described the presently preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/542,318 filed Apr. 4, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,423,195 granted on Jul. 23, 2002 and a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/542,320 filed Apr. 4, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,372,119 granted on Apr. 16, 2002, each of which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/431,756 filed on Nov. 1, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,739 B1, which issued on Apr. 17, 2001.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4097392 | Goldman et al. | Jun 1978 | A |
| 4097412 | Muller | Jun 1978 | A |
| 4100109 | Muller | Jul 1978 | A |
| 4400431 | Henslee et al. | Aug 1983 | A |
| 4678505 | Bushey | Jul 1987 | A |
| 4894185 | Djega-Mariadassou et al. | Jan 1990 | A |
| 5051394 | Haruta et al. | Sep 1991 | A |
| 5110782 | Hirono et al. | May 1992 | A |
| 5168095 | Munakata et al. | Dec 1992 | A |
| 5290759 | Richardson et al. | Mar 1994 | A |
| 5420086 | Brandau et al. | May 1995 | A |
| 5449660 | Munakata et al. | Sep 1995 | A |
| 5788950 | Imamura et al. | Aug 1998 | A |
| 5794112 | Ray et al. | Aug 1998 | A |
| 5865980 | Ray et al. | Feb 1999 | A |
| 6015637 | Mitate et al. | Jan 2000 | A |
| 6126799 | Ray et al. | Oct 2000 | A |
| 6217739 | Ray et al. | Apr 2001 | B1 |
| 6332969 | Ray et al. | Dec 2001 | B1 |
| 6416649 | Ray et al. | Jul 2002 | B1 |
| 6758991 | DiMilia et al. | Jul 2004 | B1 |
| 6821312 | Ray et al. | Nov 2004 | B1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20030121775 A1 | Jul 2003 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09542318 | Apr 2000 | US |
| Child | 10294186 | US | |
| Parent | 09542320 | Apr 2000 | US |
| Child | 09542318 | US | |
| Parent | 09431756 | Nov 1999 | US |
| Child | 09542320 | US |
