锆铪分离技术的研究现状及发展趋势

锆和铪具有相反的核性能,在核工业里的应用差别很大。但自然界中锆和铪几乎总是共生的,化学性质极为相似,彼此分离困难,二者分离是生产核级锆铪的关键。综述了锆铪分离技术的湿法冶金和火法冶金分离技术的研究现状以及各种方法的优缺点,重点介绍了溶剂萃取法和熔盐萃取法,指出熔盐萃取法可避免湿法冶金分离技术操作的繁琐性,大幅度缩短生产周期,减少环境污染,是一种环境友好型的新方法,有望成为今后锆铪分离的重要研究方向。

Research Status and Trend of Separation of Zirconium and Hafnium

Zirconium (Zr) and hafnium (Hf) have different applications in nuclear industry due to their opposite nuclearity. However, the chemical properties of Zr and Hf are significantly similar and they are always symbiotic in nature. Thus, the separation of Zr and Hf remains challenging and becomes the key process of the nuclear-grade zirconium and hafnium preparation. The recent study of hydro- and pyro-metallurgical technology was reviewed. Both the advantages and drawbacks of the main methods of hydrometallurgical technology such as fractional crystallization, fractional precipitation, ion exchange and solvent extraction were discussed. Solvent extraction was especially reviewed that although it is a well-developed method in industry, it has the disadvantages of high cost, serious environmental pollution, etc. As for pyrometallurgy, molten salt distillation, selective reduction, molten salt electrolysis and molten salt extraction are the common techniques. The mechanism and reviewing the recent progresses of the molten salt extraction were emphatically introduced. The process of molten salt extraction is significantly less complex than hydrometallurgical technology, which leads to a much shorter production cycle and is also environmental-friendly. The molten salt extraction technique, therefore, will be the essential part of studying the Zr-Hf separation.