Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Isolating Ca metal by electrolyzing CaCl2 with dissolved CaO ?

metalresearcher - 20-10-2024 at 01:18

A decade ago I opened a thread about a chemical way to make calcium.
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=33338
But it is very tedious and still is, so I've given up chemical methods to isolate Ca.
I tried to electrolyze CaCl2 which does release Ca metal at the cathode, but due to the temperature (800 C) it immediately burned away and my cell made a crackling noise due to the burning of Ca metal. I used a stainless steel pipe end as container and a carbon rod anode and a nickel cathode.
https://www.metallab.net/jwplayer/video.php?f=/forums/CaCl2-...

I was searching on the internet to literature and stumbled upon this
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365248161_High-temp...

which tells that Ca metal dissolves less in CaCl2 when more CaO is dissolved in the salt bath wich might make the process easier.

Does anyone have experience ?

[Edited on 2024-10-20 by metalresearcher]

Rainwater - 20-10-2024 at 14:02

Use controlled atmosphere, easiest method is not to blast the reaction with combustion products.
When I switched to all electric heat, problems with my sodium product igniting stopped. It is so reactive at the temperature the hot tourch exhaust acts as an oxidizer. You dont really need a lot of heating power, just some really good insulation, nice and thick. I shoot for at least 3x as thick as my reactor is wide of ceramic wool.

phlogiston - 21-10-2024 at 06:04

This guy succeeded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7X_v4dZEQw

His other video's are worth watching too.