The invention provides a method for the recovery of a metal-containing product (M.sub.Prod) comprising: providing a composite material comprising a matrix of oxidised reductant (R.sub.O), a product metal (M.sub.P) dispersed in the matrix of oxidised reductant (R.sub.O), and one or more metal compounds (M.sub.PC.sub.R) of the product metal (Mp) in one or more oxidation states dispersed in the matrix of oxidised reductant (R.sub.O); and treating the composite material to at least partially remove the one or more metal compounds (M.sub.PC.sub.R) from the matrix of oxidised reductant (R.sub.O) to form the metal-containing product (M.sub.Prod).

An apparatus for countergravity casting a metallic material, has: a crucible for holding melted metallic material; a casting chamber for containing a mold; a fill tube capable of extending into the crucible to communicate melted metallic material to the casting chamber; and a gas source coupled to a headspace of the melting vessel to allow the gas source to pressurize the headspace to establish a pressure differential to force the melted metallic material upwardly through the fill tube into the mold. Extraneous sulfur is prevented from entering the molten metal from the surrounding environment.

Additively manufactured ceramic filters are disclosed. A plurality of pores, each having a uniform geometry, are arranged between an inlet surface and an outlet surface of a single unit of ceramic such that the plurality of pores change in size uniformly from the inlet surface to the outlet surface. The pores are respectively interconnected, and the size, shape, orientation, and/or interconnection of the pores are chosen to provide hydrodynamic features that provide effective filtration for a given liquid and contamination. The pores are additively manufactured with optimized precision.

A method for purifying a powder including grains and contaminants, includes preparing a suspension including the metal powder and a solvent; then while applying mechanical energy to the suspension; dispersing the grains and the contaminants in the solvent; removing the contaminants and the solvent, and drying the grains under a controlled atmosphere.

Methods of recovering precious metals from unconventional feed water sources. In approaches, the methods use a combination of one or more of ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and/or reverse osmosis membranes. The unconventional feed water source may be salt lake brines, coal-fired plant flue-gas scrubber blowdown water, high salinity brines, concentrated brine from desalination of seawater and the like sources. The recovered precious metals may include gold tetrachloride, gold sulfate, silver tetrachloride, silver sulfate, rare earth elements, or mixtures thereof.

A high pressure filter including first and second housings having complimentary tapered surfaces, a gasket located between the tapered surfaces, a filter element centrally disposed within the housings, and a compression collar fitted over the second housing and threaded onto the first housing is provided. Methods of making and using high pressure filters are also provided.

A device for producing purified, especially high-purity, magnesium includes a reactor for vacuum distillation that is extended along a longitudinal axis (L). The reactor defines a reactor inner chamber having a heating region for heating magnesium. A crucible forms a crucible inner chamber for receiving purified magnesium vaporized and condensed by the device. A radial projection in the heating region defines a contact surface that extends essentially transverse to the longitudinal axis (L) and forms an essentially sealed connection with an edge of the crucible adjacent to the crucible inner chamber.

An apparatus for countergravity casting a metallic has: a crucible for holding melted metallic material; a casting chamber for containing a mold; a fill tube capable of extending into the crucible to communicate melted metallic material to the casting chamber; and a gas source coupled to a headspace of the melting vessel to allow the gas source to pressurize said headspace to establish a pressure differential to force the melted metallic material upwardly through said fill tube into the mold. Added sulfur-gettering particles subsequently filtered or sulfur-gettering material removes sulfur from the melted metallic material.

The present invention provides a molten-salt electrolytic refining apparatus for refining a raw-material alloy containing indium using a molten-salt electrolytic refining method. The molten-salt electrolytic refining apparatus includes a reaction crucible provided in a reaction container so as to be filled with a molten-salt electrolytic solution, an anode and a cathode immersed in the molten-salt electrolytic solution, an anode crucible in which a liquid raw-material alloy is contained, a cathode crucible in which at least one raw-material metal included in the raw-material alloy is recovered in a liquid phase, and a heater provided so that the temperature of the molten-salt electrolytic solution is adjusted to be equal to or greater than the melting temperature of the raw-material alloy. The present invention also provides a molten-salt electrolytic refining method which includes recovering indium (In) from an indium-tin (In—Sn) alloy using a molten-salt electrolytic solution containing fluoride.

Metal compositions and processes for fractional crystallization of a molten crude tin mixture containing lead and silver are described. A process includes separating the molten crude tin mixture into a first silver-enriched liquid drain product at the liquid end of a crystallization step and a first tin-enriched product at the crystal end of the crystallization step whereby the first silver-enriched liquid drain product comprises on a dry weight basis 6.0-30.0% wt of lead, 70.0-91% wt of tin, 95.0-99.0% wt of lead and tin together, 0.75-5.00% wt of silver, and ≥0.24% wt of antimony. The first silver enriched liquid drain product also includes at least one of: 0.05-0.5% wt of arsenic; 0.05-0.6% wt of copper, 0.0030-0.0500% wt of nickel, at least 0.0010-0.40% wt of bismuth, at most 1.0% wt of iron, or at least 0.0005% wt of gold, the balance being impurities.