Extraction of lanthanide elements and bismuth in molten lithium chloride-liquid bismuth-lithium alloy system.

The equilibrium distributions of Nd, Sm and Bi between molten LiCl and Bi-Li alloy were measured in a wide range of Li mole fractions in the alloy phase XLi. These lanthanide elements were extracted through redox reaction. The formation of Bi2Nd in the salt phase also affects the distributions of Nd and Bi, in oxygen-free case. When Y, an oxygen getter, was not added to the extracton system, the distribution of Nd and Bi in the salt phase increased markedly in high XLi ranges XLi>0.03. The anomalous increase was estimated to be caused by the formation of the compound comprised of Nd, Bi, Li and O in the salt phase. The reaction processes in Sm and Nd extraction have been found to be quite rapid and the extraction rates are controlled by the diffusion process of the solutes and of metallic Li.