Li-K-Cd 합금을 이용한 LiCl-KCl 용융염에서 금속염화물의 제거
Li-Cd 합금을 이용한 환원추출방식을 LiCl-KCl 기반의 drawdown 공정에 적용하게 되면, LiCl-KCl 공융염의 조성이 파괴되므로 공정온도를 높여야 하며, 전해정련 및 전해제련과 같은 공정에 LiCl-KCl 용융염을 재사용할 수 없게 된다. 따라서, 본 연구에서는 공융염 조성에 적합한 Li-K-Cd 합금을 제조하였으며, 이를 이용하여 U와 Nd가 포함된 LiCl-KCl 염에 투입하여 용 융염 내 UCl3의 제거가 가능한지 평가하였다.
In this study, we prepared Li-K-Cd alloy, which meets the requirement of eutectic ratio of Li:K, to maintain the operating temperature of the drawdown process at 500℃ and to achieve the reuse of LiCl-KCl molten salt. The prepared Li-K-Cd alloys were added to LiCl-KCl salt bearing U and Nd at 500℃ to investigate the removal of UCl3 in the salt. The reduction of UCl3 in the salt was examined by measuring the OCP value of salt and analyzing the salt composition by ICP-OES. Reduction was also visually confirmed by change of salt color from dark purple to white. The experimental results reveal that the prepared Li-K-Cd alloy has reductive extractability for UCl3 in salt. By improving the preparation method, the Li-K-Cd alloy can be applied to the drawdown process.