JP3430478B2 - Metal halide reduction reactor - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reduction reaction apparatus for reducing a metal halide to remove a by-product from the produced metal to obtain a metal product. The present invention relates to a metal halide reduction reactor with improved mechanism to facilitate manufacturing operations.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Titanium metal is a typical example of a metal produced by a reduction reaction of a metal halide. To industrially produce metallic titanium by this method, titanium tetrachloride is reduced with magnesium in a reaction vessel,
In a timely manner, a process of purifying the produced metallic titanium by removing metallic chloride produced as a by-product and producing metallic titanium, and vacuum-separating the residual by-produced magnesium chloride and unreacted magnesium remaining from metallic titanium after the reduction reaction is adopted. There is.

As a reduction reactor, a reaction vessel having a hermetically sealed structure in which a reducing agent charging tube having a metal halide charging tube and a vacuum separation side tube is provided in the upper portion and the outer peripheral portion is covered with a heating means is used. However, in the reaction vessel, a depressurizing tube equipped with an opening / closing valve is installed in the upper part of the vessel in order to control the pressure increase in the system during the reaction process. However, the reduced metal generated in the reduction reaction stage adheres to the inner surface of the depressurization tube, and after vacuum separation, compounds by-produced by the reduction reaction and unreacted reducing agent components adhere and block the inside of the tube. To do.

For this reason, in operation, after the reduction reaction step and after the completion of the reaction, a reduction rod and a by-product compound adhering to the inner surface of the depressurizing tube are artificially scraped off with a thrust rod. Since the adhered matter is firmly fixed, the removal and cleaning work requires considerable difficulty, which impedes safe continuous operation and increases the product cost.

[0005]

The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, to automatically remove the reducing metal adhering to the inner surface of the depressurization tube during the reduction reaction, and to produce a by-product compound in the vacuum separation step. It is an object of the present invention to provide a metal halide reduction reaction device which is capable of preventing the adhesion of the like and has excellent operability.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a metal halide reduction reaction apparatus according to the present invention comprises a metal halide charging tube and a reducing agent charging tube having a vacuum separating side tube in the upper part thereof. In a reaction container having a closed structure in which the outer peripheral portion is covered by a heating means, a pressure-relief tube having a horizontal branch pipe is vertically installed on the upper part of the reaction vessel, and a support table connected to the pressure-relief tube is provided. A first adhering substance removing means of a mechanism in which an agitating jig is vertically provided on a rotary shaft detachably supported by a rotary drive device at an upper end portion and a rotary disc member fixed to a tip end portion of the rotary shaft. A pressure relief valve that opens and closes in a horizontal branch of the pressure relief tube in conjunction with the pressure degree of the reaction vessel, and through the pressure relief valve through the air cinder to penetrate the pressure relief valve to the inside of the pressure relief tube. Second removal of deposits on a mechanism with a projecting telescopic cleaning rod And stage, installed in front of the pressure release valve
And a suction device that is used.

In this structure, the disk-shaped member constituting the first adhering substance removing means is fixed to the rotating shaft so as to be movable from the upper portion to the lower portion of the horizontal branch pipe inside the depressurizing pipe, and the stirring and curing treatment is performed. It is preferable that the tool is hung in a suspended state as a metal rod and / or a chain on the lower edge portion of the rotating disk member. Further, it is a preferable structural aspect to install a suction device on the front surface of the pressure relief valve.

[0008]

According to the metal halide reduction reaction apparatus of the present invention, the rotating disk member fixed to the rotating shaft, which serves as the first deposit removing means, and the stirring jig vertically provided on the rotating disk member are provided. It has the function of automatically scraping off the reduced metal that adheres to the inner surface of the depressurization tube by rotating it during the reduction reaction process. At the same time, the telescopic cleaning rod that constitutes the second deposit removing means penetrates the pressure relief valve opened in association with the pressure rise of the reaction container and projects into the pressure relief pipe, and the inner surfaces of the horizontal branch pipe and the pressure relief valve. The reduced metal adhering to is removed. Therefore, the action of removing the adhering substances by the first adhering substance removing means and the second adhering substance removing means cooperates with each other, so that the pressure reducing pipe, the horizontal branch pipe and the pressure releasing valve are blocked by the produced reduction metal during the reduction reaction. Completely prevented.

When the reduction reaction is completed and the by-product compound of the reduction reaction and the unreacted reducing agent component are separated by vacuum, the first
When the rotation of the rotary disc member constituting the adhered matter removing means is stopped, the lower part of the pressure relief pipe is lowered, and the pressure relief pipe is closed,
The phenomenon that the by-product compound of the reduction reaction and the unreacted reducing agent component penetrate into the inner surface of the depressurization tube is prevented, and the adhesion of these components is prevented in advance. Therefore, no complicated work for manually cleaning and removing the inside of the depressurization tube after vacuum separation is required.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below based on the illustrated embodiments. Note that the examples are directed to a process for producing titanium metal by reducing titanium tetrachloride with a molten magnesium reducing agent, but the metal halide reduction reaction apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to this production example. .

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a metal halide reduction reaction apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view of a depressurizing tube portion. In these figures, 1 is a reaction vessel,
A reducing agent charging pipe 4 having a metal halide charging pipe 2 and a vacuum separation side pipe 3 on the upper lid, and a byproduct compound withdrawing pipe 5 for removing magnesium chloride by-produced from the bottom to the outside of the system.
Each of them has a closed structure, and the outer peripheral portion is covered with an appropriate section of the heating means 6.

In addition to the metal halide charging pipe 2 and the reducing agent charging pipe 4 described above, a pressure release pipe 8 having a horizontal branch pipe 7 is vertically installed on the upper lid of the reaction vessel 1. A support base 10 having a rotation driving device 9 such as a motor provided at the upper end of the depressurizing tube 8 is continuously provided, and a tip end of a rotary shaft 11 detachably supported by the rotation driving device 9 is provided. The rotating disk member 13 having the stirring jig 12 vertically installed is fixed, and a first deposit removing means is formed by these series of mechanisms.

The rotating disk member 13 is fixed to the rotating shaft 11, and is positioned above the horizontal branch pipe 7 and rotates while sliding on the inner surface of the depressurizing pipe 8 during the reduction reaction. The stirring jig 12 is a metal rod, a chain, or a long member in which a rod is connected to the tip of the chain. The stirring jig 12 is attached to the rotating disc member 13 in a state of being suspended from the lower edge portion of the rotating disc member 13. With the rotation, it rotates while rubbing the inner surface of the depressurization tube 8. The length of the stirring jig 12 is equal to or longer than the length of the depressurizing pipe 8, and the number of erected pieces is not limited to one and may be plural.

On the other hand, in the horizontal branch pipe 7, for example, a sensor mechanism is used to open / close in conjunction with the pressure degree of the reaction vessel 1, and a pressure release valve 14 is opened via an air cylinder 15 when the pressure release valve 14 is opened. Depressurization pipe 8 that penetrates through the valve
Equipped with a telescopic cleaning rod 16 that protrudes inside the
The second adhered matter removing means is formed by these mechanisms. The projection operation of the telescopic cleaning rod 16 by the air cylinder 15 is linked to the opening operation of the pressure release valve 14. For example, when the internal pressure of the reaction vessel 1 rises and the pressure release valve 14 opens, the pressure release valve 14 opens. The retractable cleaning rod 16 is designed to automatically repeat forward and backward movements in response to the signal. By this mechanism, when the internal pressure drops, the telescopic cleaning rod 16
Is retracted, and the depressurization valve 14 is closed in response to this retract signal. A suction device 17 is installed on the front surface of the pressure release valve 14.

In the case of producing metallic titanium by using the reduction reactor having the above structure, first, the reaction vessel 1 is heated from the heating means 6 to the reaction vessel 1 from the reducing agent charging pipe 4 to the reaction vessel. Molten magnesium is injected into 1 and then titanium tetrachloride is added dropwise through a metal halide charging tube 2. At the same time, with the rotary disc member 13 positioned above the horizontal branch pipe 7, the rotary drive device 9 is driven to rotate the rotary shaft 11. When the dropped titanium tetrachloride comes into contact with the molten magnesium, a reaction in which titanium tetrachloride is reduced by magnesium occurs inside the reaction vessel 1, and a metallic titanium ingot 18 and magnesium chloride are produced. Magnesium chloride, which is a by-product of the reduction reaction, is used as a by-product compound extraction pipe 5 when appropriate.
Is removed to the outside of the system.

When the internal pressure of the reaction vessel 1 exceeds a certain value during the reduction reaction, the depressurization valve 14 automatically opens to appropriately reduce the internal pressure of the system and returns to the closed state again. At this reaction stage, the inner surface of the pressure relief pipe 8 and the horizontal branch pipe 7 and the pressure relief valve 14 are
The generated titanium metal adheres to the holes of the. However, the metallic titanium adhering to the inner surface of the depressurization tube 8 is not
When the stirring jig 12 rotates while rubbing the inner surface of the depressurizing tube 8 as it rotates, it is scraped off by the action (first deposit removing means), while the horizontal branch pipe 7 and the depressurizing valve 14 are pressed.
Titanium metal adhered to is intermittently removed by the action of the elastic cleaning rod 16 (second adhering substance removing means) protruding to the inside of the depressurizing tube 8 via the air cylinder 15 when the depressurizing valve 14 is opened. . Therefore, in the reduction reaction stage, the inside of the depressurization pipe 8, the horizontal branch pipe 7, and the depressurization valve 14 will not be blocked by the produced titanium metal.

After the reduction reaction is completed, the metal halide charging tube 2, the reducing agent charging tube 4 and the by-product compound withdrawing tube 5 of the reaction vessel 1 are closed and, as shown in FIG. 3, a vacuum separation side tube. Three
Is connected to a connecting pipe 19 of a condenser (not shown).
At the same time, the shaft support portion of the rotary shaft 11 is detached, and the rotary drive device 9 and the support base 10 are removed from the pressurizing tube 8 to remove the rotary shaft 1
1 is moved down, and the rotary disc member 13 is moved to the lower position (inlet) of the depressurizing pipe 8. Next, the condenser is decompressed while heating the reaction vessel 1 by the heating means 6, and the unreacted magnesium and by-product magnesium chloride components contained in the metallic titanium ingot 18 are separated by vacuum. In the process of vacuum separation, the unreacted magnesium and magnesium chloride are volatilized, but since the inlet portion of the depressurizing tube 8 is closed by the rotating disk member 13, the situation where these components adhere to the inside of the depressurizing tube 8. Is completely prevented. Therefore, the work of cleaning the inside of the depressurization tube 8 after vacuum separation is unnecessary.

[0018]

As described above, according to the metal halide reduction reaction apparatus of the present invention, the first deposit removing means and the second deposit removing means installed in the depressurizing tube are automatically operated in cooperation with each other. To keep the inside of the depressurization tube unclosed. Therefore, unlike the conventional apparatus, the difficult work of manually cleaning the inside of the depressurization tube during the reduction reaction step and after the vacuum separation step is not required, so that the operability and the productivity are improved and the manufacturing cost is reduced. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a metal halide reduction reaction apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing an enlarged part of the depressurization tube in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state of a metal halide reduction reactor in a vacuum separation stage.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 reaction vessel 2 Metal halide charging tube 3 Vacuum separation side tube 4 Reductant charging pipe 5 By-product compound extraction tube 6 heating means 7 Horizontal branch pipe 8 Depressurization tube 9 rotary drive 10 Support 11 rotation axis 12 Mixing jig 13 Rotating disc member 14 Pressure relief valve 15 air cylinder 16 Telescopic cleaning rod 17 Suction device 18 Metal Titanium Ingot 19 Connection device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) C22B 1/00-61/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A reaction vessel having a closed structure, which comprises a reducing agent charging tube having a metal halide charging tube and a vacuum separation side tube in the upper part, and the outer peripheral portion of which is covered by a heating means. A depressurization pipe having a horizontal branch pipe is installed vertically on the upper part, and a support shaft connected to the depressurization pipe has a rotating shaft detachably supported by a rotary drive device at an upper end and a tip of the rotating shaft. A first adhering substance removing means of a mechanism in which a stirring jig is vertically provided on a rotating disc member fixed to the section, and a pressure release which is opened and closed in a horizontal branch pipe of the pressure release pipe in conjunction with a pressure degree of a reaction vessel. A valve, a second deposit removing means of a mechanism having an expansion and contraction cleaning rod that penetrates the pressure relief valve and protrudes into the pressure relief tube when the pressure relief valve is opened via an air cinder, and the pressure relief bar.
A reduction reaction device for metal halides, comprising: a suction device installed on the front surface of the rub . 2. A rotary disk member constituting the first deposit removing means is fixed to a rotary shaft so as to be movable in the inside of the depressurization pipe from the upper part to the lower position of the horizontal branch pipe, and the rotary disk member 2. The metal halide reduction reaction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a stirring jig made of a metal rod and / or a chain is suspended and erected at the edge portion of the lower surface.