US2735016A

US2735016A - Process of reducing ores and compounds

Info

Publication number: US2735016A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1956-02-14
Anticipated expiration: 1973-02-14

Description

Feb. 14, 1956 c. sHEr-:R ET AL 2,735,016

PROCESS oF REDUCING @RES AND COMPOUNDS Filed June 24. 1949 *SAMUEL KOQMAN United States Patent C) 2,735,016 PROCESS F REDUCING GRES AND CORPUNBS 5 Charles Sheer, New York, and Samuel Korman, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application .lune 24, 1949, Serial No. 101,178

17 Claims. (Cl. Z50-41.9)

This invention relates to a process of reducing refrace l tory ores and compounds containin-g valuable minerals.

It is an object of this invention to provide a process which will dissociate the constituents of a compound into elemental form and which particularly will facilitate the separation of the elements so formed.

This application is a continuation in part of our prior application, Serial No. 765,148, led July 3l, 1947, now Patent No. 2,616,843, which depends upon the discovery that when a high intensity arc is maintained between a cathode and an anode composed very largely of the ore or compound to be reduced, that the anode is consumed with great rapidity and the elements comprising it are dissociated, the elements being discharged from it in ionized form. ln that prior application, in its preferred form, the arc is conducted in an active atmosphere, chlorine being preferred, whereby the ionized elements produced are chlorinated, resulting in the production of the chlorides of these elements. This is advantageous for many purposes when it permits of ready separation of the chlorides by fractional condensation, and if the chlorides be easily reducible.

In our application, Serial No. 467,800, filed December 3, 1942 now abandoned, we disclosed the use of a high intensity arc at reduced pressures of a fraction of an atmosphere of a neutral gas `for the purpose of reducing ores to their metallic components directly, based upon the principle that this reduction is facilitated by means of the high degree of ionization of the ore when it comprisesthe anode of a high intensity arc. The ionized elemental vapors thus produced are restrained from recombination by their similar electrical charges and are deposited as discrete particles of the individual component elements.

in both the foregoing cases the arc is maintained in an atmosphere of ionized material coming from the anode. We have new found that when such an arc is maintained at the extremely low pressures commercially designated as vacuum, the anode flame comprises a mixture of the ionized vtpors of the gaseous elements which can be handled and separated from each other by systems dependent upon the ionized condition, before the ionization is neutralized. Such an arc, like those previously described, is maintained in an atmosphere comprising the ilux of ionized anode material, but this flux is extremely high and permits the rise in the percentage of ionization of the material to substantially 100%. It is these characteristics which distinguish this type of arc from other electric discharges and mass spectrographic ion sources.

The chlorine form of the process preferred in the parent application has serious limitations with all metals whose halide compounds are themselves diicult to reduce, such for example as titanium, vanadium and zirconium. The present process avoids that diiculty by producing the metals direct.

Technically the process is effective with any ore or compound from which conducting electrodes can be made ,subjectl to the vacuum conditions which will hereinafter lCC be more fully outlined. The process combines with the ore reduction, a practical means of separating the products, and this fact gives it a still Wider field of practical use.

As will be hereinafter referred Vto in greater detail, in order to make it'more economical to maintain the high vacuum weprefer for many purposes the anode should be formed from a compound, all the ultimate products of which have extremely low vapor pressures at the are Vcharnber temperatures, such for example, as the carbides.

This vacuum arc is preferred and utilized in the process as here described not only `to speed up the rate of reduction of the ore, but also to make possible a new, practical and efficient separation of the reduced elements from each other. This results not only in far more rapid separation without additional handling of the material, but also it results in a purity of product, which is extremely advantageous. y

isotope separators have been proposed in which the materials are separated by collimators dependent for their sharp separation upon narrow slits, but such apparatus is not suitable for use with the high ion llux resultingrfrom this process as required for commercial production. i

When, however, the large amount of material evolved in this process is maintained in the ionized state, we have found it possible to pass it through a large aperture colliinating system and by this system to direct it into appropriate separating and collecting systems, Y

Thus the use of the high intensity arc with an anode containing the 'ore or its nietal containing derivative com? pounds, such as an" oxide or a carbide, introduces new principles in ore reduction which make possible the treatment'of larger quantities of material and sharper and simpler' separation than have been heretofore possible by low intensity arcs, low discharges or other discharges.

The maintenance of the materialv in ionized form until separation can `be completed is made possible by the reduction of the pressure to the vacuum range, since the vacuum represents a volume of very long mean free path; that is, the ions produced have little or 'no probability of collision with oppositely charged gas ions which might neutralize them before entering and passing through the separating and collecting systems.

yWhere this system of separation is employed, the persistence of .the ioniccharge on `the gaseou's'elements'evaporating from the anode material is required, so that they may be inuenced in their paths of movement by fields of force capable of reacting with the' electric charge. In the preferred form here disclosed both electric and magnetic fields are employed, the interaction of which enables the gas ions to vbe separated on the basis of their mass differences, which Vtogether with their charge determines their response to the presence of the fields.

Thepurpose of such Va separation system is to provide the necessary energy for assorting the ions according to their inertia under the reaction of the fields, and this inertia depends upon the mass of the particular ion acted upon which in turn depends upon their atomic weight, for we mayassumefor this purpose that the ions bear equal charges .and thusthe separation iseffected on the basis of differentelemental composition.

The separate elementswhich have now been diverted into separate pathways are then collected upon plates Vor electrodes which are maintained at a potential capable of discharging the ions lat their respective sites, thus effecting the mass separation into pure elements or metals. i

The invention accordingly comprises a process composing the advantages and accomplishing results and involving the relationship of thesteps one to another which will be exemplified in a process hereinafter described and the scope voffthe applicationofthe invention will `be indicated in` the cla'iriis.

Por a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

. Fig. l is a diagram of apparatus illustrating the process.

Fig. 2 is a diagram of the division of the ion stream by the apparatus.

It is possible to maintain a high intensity arc with alternating current which is in effect a series of direct current arcs of alternate polarity. In such case the arc maintained during each half cycle of the alternating current has substantially the properties of the direct current are. We prefer, however, to use the direct current arc because it has many advantages which greatly facilitate the maintenance of the arc and the control of the products of the reaction and simpliies the apparatus.

In the drawings, therefore, the numeral comprises a suitable source of direct current, having its positive side connected to a brush 11 bearing upon an anode 12 and its negative side to a cathode 13. The anode, as will be later described, comprises the material to be reduced in a form having electrical conductivity and preferably free from gas producing products or absorbed gases, such as the carbide of a metal or the carbides of the ore cornponents, and the cathode may be a carbon electrode.

This arc is of the high intensity type; that is, it is maintained with a current density and a current value sohigh that there issues from the anode a steady stream of ionized vapor which, in any appreciable atmosphere, takes the appearance of a long llame, designated in the drawings as 14. This stream comprises the ionized vapors of the materials of the anode itself. At the same time, there issues from the cathode a stream of electrons which will appear as a tongue of flame, indicated by the numeral 15, and these llames shoot towards each other and meet at the point designated at 16. The current is carried within the negative ame up to the point 16 where the flames meet and then through the base portion of the positive dame to the anode. This positive llame comprises a mixture of the ionized vapors of the separate elements of which the anode is composed and all these ions are positive. It is the purpose of this process to utilize this fact to separate the elements while still in the ionized state.

Where the process is carried out under appreciable pressures, as for example, smaller fractions of an atmosphere this positive flame is highly luminous due to the energy given off when the ions in the stream are neutralized by combination with electrons or negatively charged ions in the atmosphere in which the arc is conducted. Under such circumstances, eventually all the ionized gas becomes neutralized and condenses into discrete particles of the various elements which are not luminous. The llame thus disappears as such, a definite distance away from the anode.

The resultant product may take the form of a powder or of fine crystals. Where this occurs the elemental particles will be in mixed form and special means much be employed to separate them in order to secure the components in separated form. The exact process to be used will be determined by the particular substances being separated and by the particular form in which the elements are found.

As the pressure inthe arc chamber is reduced, however, further down into the eld commonly known as vacuum, the neutralization of the ions becomes more rare, hence less energy is dissipated from the ame and it becomes less luminous. The ame ceases to have any sharp point of termination as the gases continue in ionized form at greater distances from the anode. This is the condition which is most favorable for the separation of the products of the reaction from each other in accordance with the procedure herein disclosed.

As will be seen from the drawings, the anode 12 is substantially horizontal, but the cathode 13 makes a sharp angle to it as is commonly the case in high intensity carbon arcs used for illuminating purposes. The direction of discharge of the anode flame is in part determined by the exact position of the electrodes to each other. When the electrodes make an angle of about 70, the anode ame is discharged almost directly upwardly from the arc.

In order to utilize the ionic condition of the gases resulting from the high intensity arc as a means of separating the ionized particles, the ionized stream is passed through crossed electrical and magnetic fields by which particles may be separated in accordance with their velocities and weights. The ionized particles owing from the arc, however, are of somewhat heterogeneous velocities and since the principle of separation here employed depends in part upon the velocity to obtain satisfactory results, it is first desirable to add to the velocities of the ions a fixed value such that the differences in the intial velocities of different ions will not adversely affect the result.

The flame as it leaves the arc as a relatively slow moving beam of ions, is made to pass axially inside a solenoid 17 and a pair of coaxial

cylindrical accelerating electrodes

18 and 19. The first of these electrodes 18 may be kept at cathode potential through a wire 20, while the second 19, spaced axially from it, may be maintained at a far more negative potential by a wire 21. This last potential is so chosen that the beam is accelerated by an amount which normally will be between a few hundred and a few thousand volts, depending ou the nature of the metallic constituent. It is to be noted, however, that no power is required for this, since substantially no current passes to these electrodes.

The solenoid 17 is energized through wires 22 and 23 in a manner to constrain and to advance the movement of the ion stream toward the axis of the solenoid, to counteract the attraction of electrode 19 and to prevent divergence of the beam and due to mutual repulsion of the ions. The balance is set up between these forces to cause all the ions to move along lines parallel to the axis.

The accelerated and collimated ion beam emerges through a circular defining hole 24 from which it passes to the separating apparatus.

As here specifically disclosed, the accelerated beam is now passed through crossed electrical and magnetic Vfields, which are here diagrammatically represented by a magnet coil 25 energized by

wires

26 and 27, establishing lines of force transverse to the plane of the paper and plate electrodes 30 and 31 energized with opposite polarity by leads 32 and 33.

As will be more fully .developed further on, the beam emerging from the denning hole 24 comprises ions moving in accurately parallel paths and having nearly uniform kinetic energy and hence they will differ in velocity inversely as the square root of the masses.

The effect of crossed elds of properly adjusted strength upon such a stream is to move the high speed ions in one direction and the heavier or slower speed ions in the opposite direction. Thus the heavier material may be collected upon an electrode 34 maintained at a suitable negative potential by a lead 35, and the lighter material may be collected by an electrode 36 maintained at a suitable negative potential by a lead 37, these electrodes being placed respectively in the paths of the divisions of the main beam.

These potentials will be such as to discharge the ions, permitting them to condense.

There are several factors which should be taken into account to secure the best results from this process which we will now discuss in detail.

The phenomena of the copious stream of ionized anode material to which we have referred is a characteristic of the arc when it is operated at a high intensity and it is similar in principle to the high intensity carbon arc which has heretofore been used for illuminating purposes.

The high intensity effect appears observably when two ames can be differentiated, one emerging fromthe cathode and directed toward the anode, the other, so-called tail dame, issues from the anode in a direction almost coaxial with the cathode. With the appearance of these dames the resistance characteristic of the arc changes and becomes positive; this distinguishes the beginning of the high intensity effect from the low intensity and aming arcs, which have negative resistance characteristics. With further increase in current density beyond this point, the tail darne becomes much more extensive and the degree ot ionization approaches 100% of the material issuing from the anode crater. At this limit, additional energy may be introduced as required to increase the energy of motion of the ions thus produced. The effects sought in this invention begin to predominate, and the results become more practicable, the closer the operation is made to attain complete ionization.

The diameter of the anodes is selected so as to be consistent with the amount of current available, so as to produce a high intensity arc, characterized by current densities, as measured in relation to the cross-sectional area of the anode, in excess of 5G() amperes per square inch. in practical operation this density preferably exceeds 5000 amperes per square inch. The voltage across the arc, including the drop at the cathode and the anode, is approximately G volts.

The second factor to be considered in the process is the composition of the anodes. in order that the ionization phenomena or" the high intensity arc may be made as effective as possible, we prefer to describe this process for the case where the ore has previously been subjected to treatment with commercially available carbon, such as petroleum coke, in an electric resistance furnace, at a temperature and time sufficient to transform the ore into a mixture of the carbides of the metals in the ore. The advantages inherent in the preparation of the mixed carbides are as follows:

l. The carbides of virtually all metals contain relatively high mass percentages of metal, compared with any other metal compound, including the ore or oxides. This means that a good deal of energy is saved by reducing the problem of ionization of anode material to that of a material which consists predominantly of metallic constituents.

2. The decomposition of the carbides yields substances almost all of which condense from the gaseous state at very high temperatures; viz., the elemental metals and free carbon. This obviates the diculties inherent in the use of oxides or silicates mixed with carbon, since no oxygen is set frce with which carbon can combine, Aforming oxides of carbon, which together with uncombined oxygen remain as gases at low temperatures, thus creating a formidable pumping problem in maintaining lthe vacuum.

3. The carbides of substantially all metals are relatively good conductors of electricity; thus, they function very effectively as anodes, when fed between graphite brush contacts into the arc.

4. Carbide production constitutes a well-known and inexpensive technology; when adapted to this process, the mixed carbides are made by mixing the ore or oxides with petroleum coke, compressing the mix and extruding it into uniform rods, which are then baked according to Well-known methods in suitable furnaces, to produce dense, hard, electrically conductive rods of uniform size, shape and mechanical properties, which may be buttwelded with petroleum coke containing suitable organic constituents, to form a continuous anode.

5. The carbon product made from the carbide anode, and separated by the ction of the high intensity arc and separation and collection system of this process, is in very form with commercial value.

On the other hand, despite these advantages, this process is 'by no limited to carbides of metals. In cases where the scale of operation is sulciently large to warrant its consideration, large quantities of gases formed inthe process may be adequately handled, and therefore it is quite feasible rto allow the anodes tocomprise oxides or silicates of metals crushed, mixed and fabricated with petroleum coke into dense, hard, electrically conductive anodes by methods investigated and developed by the inventors. ln still other manifestations of the invention described herein, it is readily apparent that the anode material may consist of scrap alloy materials, billeted, cast, or otherwise suitably fabricated into anode forms suitable for use with a high intensity arc, for the purpose of effecting a separation and purication of the component elements, or for the purpose of producing alloys.

in the preferred form of this process, therefore, the anodes will comprise uniform rods composed of the carbides of the ore-metal constituents. Where the ore is essentially the oxide of a single metal, the carbide will be that of the one metal. When a silicate or mixed oxide is used, the product will be a mixture of the carbides of the metais, including that of silicon.

We have previously referred to the advantages obtained in conducting the arc at very low pressures, since this makes possible the maintenance of the gaseous products in ionized form while the separation is affected. For this purpose the Vacuum should be in the order of l micron of mercury or less, since the value of the pressure in the region outside the are llames determines the mean free path of the ions issuing from the arc. This requirement places an upper limit on the pressure where electromagnetic separation is to be employed, which for practical apparatus will be below l micron.

in the conduct of the process it will be understood that it is carried out entirely within an enclosure permitting this vacuum to be maintained. However, such enclosures are well understood in the art and are not here illustrated. lt will be understood that the process is applicable to any material or chemical compound ot' which a conducting anode may be made and particularly to those metallic elements which can be commercially converted into carbides. ln order, however, to give specific application to the process here, we shall discuss it in connection with the recovery of titanium from its ore, or more particularly from its carbide, and in such case the tail flame will be composed almost entirely of ions of carbon and titanium with perhaps a very small percentage of Lin-ionized carbide vapor. lf this latter be present, it will condense immediately because it is refractory and it will fall to the bottom of the chamber, from which it may be recovered.

The vast majority of the carbide molecules evaporated from the anode are dissociated and ionized into C-land Ti-lions. Also, what is equally important for the purposes of this process, the distribution of electric field etween anode and cathode is such, for this type of arc, that these ions issue in a single direction with `like directed kinetic energy. rl`his direction, which is always a few degrees olf of the cathode axis, can be maintained by means of a lateral magnetic ield (not shown) and it may be bent into any convenient direction. Furthermore, although the ions are positively charged, only a fraction of one percent of the ions travels along a path so as to strike the cathode. Only that quantity of heavy ions is required to strike the cathode hotspot as will maintain the latter, by bombardment, at a temperature high enough so that the cathode will emit thermionically enough electrons to carry the arc current. In the high intensity arc this is an insignificant fraction of the ions produced in the anode drop region. The great majority of ions then receive directed kinetic energy, of the order of a few volts, and travel unidirectionally with but slight spreadingI away from the cathode.

ln short, this type of arc produces a naturally collimated beam of ions which may reach thousands of amperes in a practical setup, thus allowing for a material transport far in excess of any arc source heretofore employed in mass spectrometers or similar apparatus. For example, a material transport via an ionized beam, ,-ofmany grams per minute is possible by this means, as against micrograms per hour achieved by ordinary electromagnetic separators. Furthermore, it now becomes possible (in fact virtually necessary) to maintain a large aperture (i. e. cross-sectional area) of the beam throughout the separating systems. The same high resolution nonl obtained in the mass spectrometer by means of tine slits of low aperture may likewise be obtained with the aid of a longitudinal magnetic eld, which maintains accurately parallel ion trajectories, in the manner to be described below. Obviously a ne slit system and a high material transport are mutually exclusive, since when the ion density in the beam is high, the mutual repulsion between ions will make it impossible to focus the beam so as to pass through the small area in a slit.

The sharpness of separation of the products in the crossed fields will depend upon how parallel the beam emerging from the hole 24 is and this is turn will depend upon the way the apparatus is constructed and its values maintained. For the purpose of separating elements of gross mass difference, for example, carbon and titanium Whose atomic weights are respectively 12 and 48, this is not at all critical. On the other hand, if the process is to be used for the separation of the isotopes of heavy elements where the isotopes diiier in atomic weight only by a small percentage, a high degree of precision would be required. Although it is not shown in the drawings, it may be in some instances desirable to extend the solenoid 17 to encompass the entire region before the beam is actually separated, that is, up to the end of the electrodes Sil-31. This will prevent diversion due to space charge in the region between the aperture 24 and the end of the separating region.

We may now consider the accelerating system. lf we assume that the maximum energy of a particle emerging from the tail ame to be say 3 volts, we will have a spread of energies from Zero to 3 volts for the beam incident to the accelerating gap and, if We apply say 300 volts across the gap, each particle will receive exactly 300 volts of energy from this field. We are then left with a distribution of from 300 to 303 volts for the beam emergent at 24. In other words, the energies are uniform to within one percent. The velocities, however, will depend upon their masses in accordance with the formula 1/2 mv.2=Ve where m=mass=8 lO-23 gms. for Ti and 2 10-23 gms. for C v=velocity V=accelerating potential-:300 volts e=ionic charge: 1.59)( l-19 coulombs.

It is obvious that if we neglect the initial velocities derived from the arc, the error will be less than one percent. We obtain, therefore:

The carbon ions are, therefore, moving with twice the velocity of the titanium, and in fact any other constituent in the beam would be moving with a velocity in the proportion of the square root of its mass. It the mass differences are suiiicient to result in a grouping of velocity ranges according to masses, such that the separations in the average velocities of the diierent mass groups is considerably greater than the 1% spread in cach group due to initial arc velocities, then ettective separation is possible. (This method of velocity dispersion is Well-known and is used for example in the Dempster mass spectrograph.)

We now consider the path of an ion projected into crossed electric and magnetic fields of intensities E and H, respectively, assuming all particles enter parallel to the axis, see Fig. 2:

E is parallel to plane of paper H is perpendicular to plane of paper.

The equation of the trajectory for the case under consideration is given by where .r and y are the Variables describing the path and the remaining symbols are constants as follows:

e=ionic charge m=ionic mass E=electric field strength H :magnetic eld strength vo=initial velocity yo=initial distance oft the axis of incoming particle.

It is seen from this expression that for any particular value of initial velocity, vu, we may adjust the field strengths E and H, so that:

E :UGH or v0= The equation then becomes which means that the path continues in an undeected straight line through the fields. For values of initial velocity greater than this amount, and with the same adjustment of the elds, the quantity E-voH will be negative at all points; that is, the value of y will be successively reduced. This means that the particle will be deflected downwards in a parabolic path relative to ya. Similarly, for particles having less than this velocity the quantity E-voH will be always positive and the particles will be deected upwards in a parabolic path relative to yo. Consequently, if we adjust the ratio of E to H such that the critical velocity (no deflection) lies between that for the carbon and titanium ions, that is, 5.25Xl0 cms/sec., then all the titanium ions will be dellected upward and all carbon ions downward. Moreover, practically the same deflection will occur for every particle of one type, since they all enter parallel to the axis and at the same initial velocity (to within 1%). The beam will then separate into two beams, each slightly diverging and each beam diverging from the axis in opposite directions. Thus, eventually, the two beams will clear each other and a complete separation is then eilectuated.

We may then collect the material by placing suitable collecting electrodes preferably in the form of hollow cylinders considerably longer than their diameter with the receiving end open, so as to intercept each beam. These electrodes may be connected directly to the cathode, in which case the ions will be decelerated as they approach the walls of the receivers until theystrike at the same velocity with which they issue from the arc. At this point they are neutralized and will condense in crystalline form on the walls. The charge which the ions removed from the arc is returned to the cathode via terminals 35 and 37. Since the ions are linally collected at the same kinetic energy at which they are formed, no extra electrical energy is required to be expended in the process of acceleration.

For some purposes, however, it may be desirable to allow the ions to strike the collector at energies considerably greater than that at which they issue from the arc. This may be desirable, for example, to control the physical properties of the solid form in which the ions condense. In this case, the collectors will have to be maintained at a suitable potential with respect to the cathode by means of an auxiliary voltage source. Moreover, since the entire ion current ilows through this generator, extra electrical energy will have to be supplied for this purpose.

The combined use of the two elds for the separation system described above is not essential for separating ions of dierent masses on the basis of their velocities. Either iield alone could accomplish this, and in ordinary mass spectroscopy usually arnagnetic eld alone is used.

- magma In such a case, the trajectories of both heavy and light ions will curve in the same direction but by different amounts, so that ultimately the beams would separate. This would require a curved apparatus which would be difficult to construct for a wide beam. In addition to providing a symmetrical structure, greater dispersion is obtained in the vicinity of the zero path, so that a greater divergence between the two beams is obtained and a quantitative separation is obtained in a shorter distance by the use of the crossed fields. Although relatively unimportant for narrow aperture systems, this becomes of considerable practical importance for a wide -beam of high ion flux. The reduction of the total path required for separation reduces the complexity of the apparatus and makes the vacuum requirement less stringent.

Obviously, if more than two types of ions be present and it is required to separate each component quantitatively, successive stages of crossed fields may be employed to effect separations of each component.

Since certain changes may be made in carrying out the above process without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween.

We claim:

l. The process of separating the elements of refractory chemical compounds which comprises converting said compounds into a copious flux of ions of the component elements, forming said flux into a stream in which the ions have substantially the same kinetic energy and move in parallel paths .and then passing said stream through crossed electric and magnetic fields to separate the elemental ions into separate paths and then separately collecting and neutralizing the ions in each path.

2. The process of separating the elements of refractory chemical compounds, which comprises maintaining a high intensity arc between an anode comprising substantially said compound and a cathode, to produce a copious stream of ions of the anode substance, then passing said ions through a field of force to react upon said ions to separate the elemental ions into separate paths and then separately collecting and neutralizing the ions in each path.

3. The process of separating the elements of refractory chemical compounds, which comprises maintaining a high intensity arc between an anode comprising substantially said compound and a cathode, to produce a copious stream of ions of the refractory, then passing said ions through crossed electric and magnetic fields to separate the elemental ions into separate paths, and then separately collecting and neutralizing the ions in each path.

4. The process of reducing refractory ores to produce the values thereof in elemental form, which comprises converting the ores to carbides, forming anodes of the carbides, maintaining a high intensity electric arc between said anodes and a cathode, to produce substantially 100% ionization of the ore values in the form of a copious stream of ions, and then passing the ion stream through a field of force to react upon the ions to separate ions of different materials into different pathways, and then collecting the ions in the pathways separately and neutralizing them.

5. A process according to claim 4, in which the stream of ions is first passed through an electric field in the direction of motion whereby a fixed quantity of energy is added to each electron, far in excess of the energy with which it enters the field.

6. A process according to claim 4, in which the stream of ions is first passed through an electric field in the direction of motion whereby a fixed quantity of energy 10 is added to each electron, far in excess of the energy with which it enters the field, while maintaining a magnetic field in the direction to prevent dispersion of the stream.

7. The process of separating the elements of refractory chemical compounds, which comprises converting the elements of said compound into a copious flux of ions of substantially uniform energy and parallel flow, then passing said stream through crossed fields of magnetism and of electricity to cause the ions of different ,materials to diverge into different pathways and then separately collectiny and neutralizing said ions.

8. A system for producing the elemental values of a refractory material in elemental form, which comprises means for supporting said substance as an anode and a carbon electrode as a cathode, means for maintaining between them a high intensity arc, a pair of tubular concentric electrodes in the path of the tail flame of said arc in sequence, means for imposing on said electrodes a potential sufficient to impart to ions an energy greatly in excess of that with which they leave the anode, a magnet for establishing a magnetic field concentric with said tail fiame to collimate the ion flow, and electrodes and magnets establishing crossed electric fields to separate the ions of different elements into different paths, and collecting electrodes in each of said pathways.

9. A system for producing the elemental values of a material in elemental form, which comprises means for supporting said substance as an anode and a carbon electrode as a cathode, means for maintaining between them a high intensity arc, a pair of tubular concentric electrodes in the path of the tail liame of said arc in sequence,`means for imposing on said electrodes a potential sufficient to impart to ions an energy greatly in excess of that with which they leave the anode, a magnet for establishing a magnetic field concentric with said tail fiame to collimate the ion flow, and electrodes and magnets establishing crossed electric fields to separate the ions of different elements into different paths, and collecting electrodes in each of said pathways, and means for imposing a negative potential on each collecting electrode.

l0. The process of separating dissimilar ions in a stream of ionized gas coming from a source in which the ions have dissimilar velocities, which comprises passing said stream through an electrical field in the direction of the lines of force thereof to accelerate said ions by a fixed quantity of energy greatly in excess of the energy of the ions in the original stream, passing said accelerated stream through a transverse field of force with which the electrical charge upon the ions may react to separate dissimilar ions into separate paths and then separately collecting the ions in each pathway upon an electrode having a potential substantially the same as the source.

ll. The process of separating dissimilar ions in a stream of ionized gas coming from a source in which the ions have dissimilar velocities, which comprises passing said stream through an electrical field in the direction of the lines of force thereof to accelerate said ions by a fixed quantity of energy greatly in excess of the energy of the ions in the original stream While collimating the beam by a concentric magnetic field, passing said acceieratcd stream through a transverse field of force with which the electrical charge upon the ions may react to separate dissimilar ions into separate paths and then separately collect` ing the ions in each pathway upon an electrode having a potential substantially the same as the source.

l2. The process of separating dissimilar ions in a stream of ionized gas coming from a source in which the ions have dissimilar velocities, which comprises passing said stream through an electrical field in the direction of the lines of force thereof to accelerate said ions by a fixed quantity of energy greatly in excess of the energy of the ions in the original stream while collimating the beam by a concentric magnetic field, passing said accelerated stream through crossed electrical and magnetic fields of a relative strength to divert dissimilar ions in opposite directions and then separately collecting the ions in each pathway upon an electrode having a potential substantially the same as the source.

13. A process of reducing ores to produce the values thereof in ionized elemental form, which comprises maintaining a high intensity arc in vacuum between a cathode and an anode of the ore material to create a stream of ionized gas, passing said stream through an electrical field in the direction of the lines of force thereof to accelerate said ions by a xed quantity of energy, passing said accelerated stream through a transverse iield of force with which the electrical charge upon the ions may react, to separate dissimilar ions into separate pathways and then separately collecting the ions in each pathway upon an electrode having a potential substantially the same as that of the cathode.

14. A process of reducing ores to produce the Values thereof in ionized elemental form, which comprises maintaining a high intensity arc in vacuum between a cathode and an anode of the ore material to create a stream of ionized gas, passing said stream through an electrical field in the direction of the lines of force thereof to accelerate said ions by a xed quantity of energy while collimating the beam by a concentric magnetic field, passing said accelerated stream through a transverse eld of force with which the electrical charge upon the ions may react, to separate dissimilar ions into separate pathways and then separately collecting the ions in each pathway upon an electrode having a potential substantially the same as that of the cathode. t

15. A process of reducing ores to produce the values thereof in ionized elemental form, which comprises maintaining a high intensity arc in vacuum between a cathode and an anode of the ore material to create a stream of ionized gas, passing said stream through an electrical eld in the direction of the lines of force thereof to accelerate said ions by a fixed quantity of energy While collimating the beam by a concentric magnetic iield, passing said accelerated stream through crossed electrical and magnetic elds of a relative strength to divert dissimilar ions in opposite directions, and then separately collecting the ions in each pathway upon an electrode having a potential substantially the same as that of the cathode. A. f

16.r A process in accordance with claim 1, in which the ions in the parallel path are accelerated in their direction of movement by an electrical held, thereby attaining different velocities dependent on their atomic weights before being subjected to the crossed electrical fields.

17. A process of separating the elements of chemical compounds in the form of a copious ow of ions of the component elements, which comprises accelerating the ions in their direction of motion, whereby elements of different atomic weights are dilerently accelerated, and then subjecting them to magnetic and electric elds tending to move them in opposite directions, whereby the electrical field will deflect most the heavy ions and the magnetic eld the light and separately collecting the ions in their several paths.

References Cited in the ie of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain June 1, 1933 OTHER REFERENCES Thomson: Conduction of Electricity Through Gases, vol. 2, (1933), pp. 589-90 (Copy in Scent. Lib.)

Claims

1. THE PROCESS OF SEPARATING THE ELEMENTS OF REFRACTORY CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS WHICH COMPRISES CONVERTING SAID COMPOUNDS INTO A COPIOUS FLUX OF IONS OF THE COMPONENT ELEMENTS, FORMING SAID FLUX INTO A STREAM IN WHICH THE IONS HAVE SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME KINETIC ENERGY AND MOVE IN PARALLEL PATHS AND THEN PASSING SAID STREAM THROUGH CROSSED ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS TO SEPARATE THE ELEMENTAL IONS INTO SEPARATE PATH AND THEN SEPARATELY COLLECTING AND NEUTRALIZING THE IONS IN EACH PATH.