Method of combining industrial processes having inherent carbon capture and conversion capabilities offering maximum flexibility, efficiency, and economics while enabling environmentally and sustainably sound practices. Maximum chemical energy is retained throughout feedstock processing. A hybrid thermochemical cycle couples staged reforming with hydrogen production and chlorination. Hydrogen generated is used to upgrade feedstocks including bitumen, shale, coal, and biomass. Residues of upgrading are chlorinated, metals of interest are removed, and the remainder is reacted with ammonia solution and carbon dioxide to form carbonate minerals. The combination provides emissions free production of synthetic crude oil and derivatives, as well as various metals and fertilizers. Sand and carbonate minerals are potentially the only waste streams. Through this novel processing, major carbon dioxide reduction is afforded by minimizing direct oxidation. Supplemental heat to run the reactions is obtained through external means such as concentrated solar, geothermal, or nuclear.

Method of combining industrial processes having inherent carbon capture and conversion capabilities offering maximum flexibility, efficiency, and economics while enabling environmentally and sustainably sound practices. Maximum chemical energy is retained throughout feedstock processing. A hybrid thermochemical cycle couples staged reforming with hydrogen production and chlorination. Hydrogen generated is used to upgrade feedstocks including bitumen, shale, coal, and biomass. Residues of upgrading are chlorinated, metals of interest are removed, and the remainder is reacted with ammonia solution and carbon dioxide to form carbonate minerals. The combination provides emissions free production of synthetic crude oil and derivatives, as well as various metals and fertilizers. Sand and carbonate minerals are potentially the only waste streams. Through this novel processing, major carbon dioxide reduction is afforded by minimizing direct oxidation. Supplemental heat to run the reactions is obtained through external means such as concentrated solar, geothermal, or nuclear.

A method and plant for molybdenum recovery from a low-grade crude ore by low-temperature chlorination, where the molybdenum-bearing fine ore is chlorinated with gaseous chlorine at a temperature of 220-250 C. to form a volatile chloride compound, which after leaving a reactor is directed to a low-temperature nitrogen-oxygen plasma unit having a temperature of 800-1000 C., wherein the said compound decomposes and turns into a high-purity MoO.sub.3 powder or nanopowder, which is cooled with an air stream and collected in a dumping hopper. The invention enables recovery of ultra-high purity MoO.sub.3 (purity of 99.997-99.999%) using an environmental friendly, cost effective, and inexpensive method implemented on an industrial scale.

An industrial scale smelting system that processes large quantities of ore in a production manner for recovery of a plurality of elements in useful quantities using a furnace system and a plurality of electrowinning processes with the option of raw material recovery and recirculation capabilities.

An industrial scale smelting system that processes large quantities of ore in a production manner for recovery of a plurality of elements in useful quantities using a furnace system and a plurality of electrowinning processes with the option of raw material recovery and recirculation capabilities.

A vanadium recovery approach utilizes oil fly ash (OFA), in contrast to coal fly ash, for separation and recovery of vanadium. OFA is first carbon burned to reduce the volume for recycling, and also to provide a fuel for other industrial processes. Following an almost 90% weight reduction from carbon burning, the remaining material includes about 18% vanadium. A salt roasting performed at the same temperature (about 650 C.) as the carbon burning allows use of the same oven or furnace, reducing heat requirements for the overall process. Salt roasting generates a water-soluble material from which a water leaching process yields a vanadium leach solution containing recovered vanadium, avoiding a need for caustic or volatile leaching agents. Ammonium metavanadate is precipitated from the vanadium leach solution through addition of ammonium sulfate, and a calcination process used to generate vanadium oxide (V.sub.2O.sub.5).

An industrial scale smelting system for using arc furnaces for processing large quantities of ore in a production manner for recovery of a plurality of elements in useful quantities using a plurality of electrowinning processes with the options of providing efficient energy recovery and raw material recovery and recirculation capabilities.

An industrial scale smelting system for using arc furnaces for processing large quantities of ore in a production manner for recovery of a plurality of elements in useful quantities using a plurality of electrowinning processes with the options of providing efficient energy recovery and raw material recovery and recirculation capabilities.

The present invention relates to the recovery of rare earths, scandium, niobium, tantalum, zirconium, hafnium, titanium, and the like from ores or concentrates containing fluorine. More specifically, the ores or concentrates are pretreated by carbochlorination to convert the rare earths and other metals into their chlorides and then subjected to dilute hydrochloric acid leaching to recover the valuable rare earths and other metals from the leachate. Niobium, tantalum, zirconium, hafnium, and titanium can be recovered as their chlorides or oxychlorides from the gaseous products of carbochlorination, or converted into their oxides while simultaneously regenerating chlorine.

Disclosed are systems and methods having inherent carbon capture and conversion capabilities offering maximum flexibility, efficiency, and economics while simultaneously enabling environmentally and sustainably sound practices. A hybrid thermochemical cycle couples staged reforming with hydrogen production and residue chlorination. The residues of the upgrading are chlorinated, metals of interest are removed and bulk material is re-mineralized. Through the residue chlorination process, various metals including rare earths are concentrated and extracted. Energy is retained through chemical synthesis such as hydrocarbon and metal and non-metal chloride production. Produced chemicals are later exploited by redox reactions in the operation of an integrated gasification flow battery.