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Molten Salt Electrowinning of Metals and Materials: Opportunities and Challenges

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Indian Metallurgy

Part of the book series: Indian Institute of Metals Series ((IIMS))

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Abstract

Conventional metallurgical processes to produce metals involve carbothermal reduction of their compounds and suffer from massive carbon emissions. Electrowinning using aqueous electrolytes is a demonstrated approach to obtain many metals. However, aqueous electrolytes are not suitable to produce several classes of metals such as alkali, alkaline earth, refractory, rare earths, and actinides due to their high negative reduction potentials. Molten salt electrolysis is a commercially viable and feasible route for the production of these metals. The present chapter details on the molten salt electrowinning of alkali, alkaline earth, rare earths and refractory metals with a special focus on the efforts at CSIR CECRI in this niche area of science and technology.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support by IRELTDC via GAP 40/19 (M.J., R.S.P.) SERB-ECR via Project No. ECR/2018/002075 (M.J.). CSIR-TWAS Postgraduate Fellowship via Award No. 22/FF/CSIR-TWAS/2017 (C.A.) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electroplating and Metal Finishing Division, CSIR Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, 630 003, India

    M. Jayakumar, Naveen Chandrasekaran, R. S. Prasannakumar, James Ebenezer, N. Mohanapriya, C. Andrew, B. Subramanian & L. John Berchmans

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  1. M. Jayakumar
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  2. Naveen Chandrasekaran
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  3. R. S. Prasannakumar
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  4. James Ebenezer
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  5. N. Mohanapriya
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  6. C. Andrew
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  7. B. Subramanian
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  8. L. John Berchmans
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Correspondence to M. Jayakumar or Naveen Chandrasekaran .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Metallurgy and Materials Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

    R. Divakar

  2. Materials and Manufacturing Entity, Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Trivandrum, India

    S. V. S. Narayana Murty

  3. National Metallurgical Laboratory CSIR, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    S. Srikanth

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

    Amol A. Gokhale

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Jayakumar, M. et al. (2024). Molten Salt Electrowinning of Metals and Materials: Opportunities and Challenges. In: Divakar, R., Murty, S.V.S.N., Srikanth, S., Gokhale, A.A. (eds) Indian Metallurgy. Indian Institute of Metals Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5060-7_11

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