A system for extracting oxygen from powdered metal oxides, the system comprising a container comprising an electrolyte in the form of meltable or molten salt, at least one cathode, at least one anode, a power supply, and a conducting structure, wherein the cathode is shaped as a receptacle having a porous shell, which has an upper opening, the cathode being arranged in the electrolyte with the opening protruding over the electrolyte, wherein the conducting structure comprises a plurality of conducting elements and gaps between the conducting elements, wherein the power supply is connectable to the at least one cathode and the at least one anode to selectively apply an electric potential across the cathode and the anode, wherein the conducting structure is insertable into the cathode, such that the conducting elements reach into an inner space of the cathode, wherein the conducting structure is electrically connectable to the cathode, and wherein the system is adapted for reducing at least one respective metallic species of at least one metal oxide of feedstock inside the shell of the cathode with inserted conducting structure by applying the electric potential, wherein the potential is greater than the dissociation potential of the at least one metal oxide.

A process for electrowinning a metal using a flow-through electrowinning apparatus can include the steps of: a) conveying an anolyte material and a metal chemical feedstock material along an anolyte flow path within an anolyte chamber; b) conveying catholyte material along a catholyte flow path within a catholyte chamber that has a cathode; c) applying an activation electric potential between the anode and a cathode that is sufficient to electrolyze and liberate metal ions from the metal chemical feedstock material in the anolyte chamber, thereby causing a flux of metal ions to migrate through a porous membrane from the anolyte chamber to the catholyte chamber and a metal product to be formed in the catholyte chamber; and while applying the activation electric potential, extracting a feedstock-depleted anolyte material from the anolyte chamber; and extracting an outlet material comprising the catholyte material and the metal product from the catholyte chamber via a catholyte outlet.

A method for recovering metal resources in coal ash by molten salt electrolysis includes: calcinating the coal ash for decarburization to obtain the decarburized coal ash; subjecting the decarburized coal ash to ball milling to obtain coal ash powders; pressing the coal ash powders to form a plate; placing the plate as a cathode into an electrolyte in a reactor, and performing electrolytic reaction under an oxygen-free condition at an electrolytic reaction temperature of 550° C. to 900° C. in the reactor to obtain a reaction product; and removing the reaction product from the reactor, cooling the reaction product to room temperature in an inert atmosphere, and cleaning the cooled reaction product to obtain a silicon-aluminum based alloy.

Methods for electrochemical extraction of metals, and methods for determining electrolyte fluids suitable therefor. A method of extracting, separating, and/or purifying a method includes immersing an electrochemical cell including an anode and a cathode in a liquid including the metal to form a layer including the metal on the cathode. The immersing includes applying an electrochemical potential across the anode and cathode.

A centrifugal molten regolith electrolysis (MRE) reactor that can volatilize and capture volatiles (i.e., .sup.3He or other noble gases) and electrochemically decompose, while under centrifugal action, lunar regolith into oxygen, metals, and semiconductor materials is disclosed. The high-temperature centrifugal MRE reactor comprises four principal components; namely: (1) a rotatable concentric electrolytic cell comprising an outer metallic shell cathode positioned about an inner central drum anode; (2) a motor sized and configured to rapidly spin (rotate) the concentric electrolytic cell reactor about its central longitudinal axis; (3) a stationary (relative to the spinning electrolytic cell) induction coil (connected to an external stationary AC current source) wrapped about, and adjacent to, the rotatable concentric electrolytic cell (for, when selectively energized, melting regolith contained within the concentric electrolytic cell); and (4) a stationary voltage source (for supplying an applied voltage to the concentric electrolytic cell). The centrifugal MRE reactor electrowins metals and oxygen.

A method and electrolysis cell for producing lithium metal at a low temperature. The method includes combining (i) acetonitrile and (ii) a cation bis(trihaloalkylsulfonyl)imide, cation bis(trihalosulfonyl)imidic acid, a cation bis(trihaloalkylsulfonyl)amide, or cation bis(trihaloalkylsulfonyl)amidic acid in a weight ratio of (i) to (ii) about 100:1 to about 5:1 to provide a non-aqueous electrolyte composition. A lithium compound selected from the group consisting of LiOH, Li.sub.2O and Li.sub.2CO.sub.3 is dissolved in the electrolyte composition to provide a lithium doped electrolyte composition. Power is applied to the electrolyte composition to form lithium metal on a cathode of an electrolysis cell. The lithium metal separated from the cathode has a purity of at least about 95 wt. %.

A cathode assembly for an electrolytic cell including a cathode block having a second surface and a first surface. The cathode block also including at least one sealing groove opening onto its first surface and a plurality of electrical contact plugs mounted in electrical contact with the first surface of the cathode block. The cathode assembly includes at least one current supply plate in electrical contact with at least one electrical contact plug, and is connected to at least one unit for connection to an electric current source. The cathode assembly includes at least one current supply bar having a coefficient of thermal expansion substantially identical to the coefficient of thermal expansion of the current supply plate and is sealed within the at least one sealing groove while being fastened to at least one current supply plate.

A process for producing refined lithium metal can include: a) processing a lithium chemical feedstock material using an electrowinning apparatus to produce a crude lithium metal having a first purity; b) combining the crude lithium metal with a carrier material to create a lithium-rich feed alloy; c) introducing the lithium-rich feed alloy as a feedstock material to an electrorefining apparatus and processing the lithium-rich feed alloy using the electrorefining apparatus to separate lithium metal from the carrier material thereby producing i) a refined lithium metal having a second purity that is greater than the first purity and ii) a lithium-depleted alloy that comprises the carrier material and less lithium metal than the lithium-rich feed alloy; and d) extracting the lithium-depleted alloy from the electrorefining apparatus and recycling at least a portion of the lithium-depleted alloy to provide at least a portion of the carrier material used in step b).

According to an embodiment, a nuclear fuel material recovery method of recovering a nuclear fuel material containing thorium metal by reprocessing an oxide of a nuclear fuel material containing thorium oxide in a spent fuel is provided. The method has: a first electrolytic reduction step of electrolytically reducing thorium oxide in a first molten salt of alkaline-earth metal halide; a first reduction product washing step of washing a reduction product; and a main electrolytic separation step of separating the reduction product. The first molten salt further contains alkali metal halide, and contains at least one out of a group consisting of calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium fluoride and magnesium fluoride. The method may further has a second electrolytic reduction step of electrolytically reducing uranium oxide, plutonium oxide, and minor actinoid oxide in a second molten salt of alkali metal halide.

The present technology provides a process comprising: contacting a hydrocarbon feedstock with an effective amount of sodium metal and an effective amount of exogenous capping agent at a temperature of 250-500° C., to produce a mixture of sodium salts and a converted feedstock, wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock comprises hydrocarbons with a sulfur content of at least 0.5 wt % and an asphaltene content of at least 1 wt %; the sulfur content comprises asphaltenic sulfur and non-asphaltenic sulfur; the converted feedstock comprises hydrocarbon oil with a sulfur content less than that in the hydrocarbon feedstock and an asphaltene content less than that in the hydrocarbon feedstock; and the proportion of asphaltenic sulfur to non-asphaltenic sulfur in the converted feedstock is lower than in the hydrocarbon feedstock.