L. Sun et al.
JournalofFluorineChemistry218(2019)99–104
4−m
ZrF m
in the presence of free fluorine anions. In LiF-BeF2, the ba-
sicity increased with an increase in the LiF content, while the viscosity
decreased [17]. Bieber et al. [14] studied the stability of dissolved Si
equilibrium between Si(IV) ions and SiF4(g) was highly influenced by
the relative fluoroacidity of the molten salt; i.e, the more free F- present
in a molten salt, the more stable the Si(IV) ions were and the less SiF4
was released. Conocar et al. [18,19] reported that the salt composition
and fluorobasicity would affect the activity coefficients and distribution
coefficients of actinides and lanthanides during a pyrochemical re-
ductive extraction process. Williams [17] pointed out that the corrosion
of Inconel was much more severe in FLiNaK than in NaF-ZrF4 due to the
increase in the stability of the corrosion product due to complexation
with the fluoride ions in FLiNaK. Williams et al. [20] also compared the
behavior of GaCl3 in both prototypical Lewis acid and Lewis base salts
and determined that the volatility of GaCl3 was suppressed in basic
molten salts while promoted in acidic molten salts. It is unclear that
whether the fluoroacidity of molten salts influences the fluorination
process of UF4.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the device for fluorination of UF4.
for in situ monitoring of the fluorination process. The gas flow rate was
controlled and measured with thermal mass flowmeters (5850E, Ar,
range: 0.1–5SLM, uncertainty: 1% full scale; 5850 EM, F2/Ar range:
0.05–1SLM, uncertainty: 1% full scale Brooks, USA).
In this work, the fluorination of UF4 in different molten salts, in-
cluding LiF-NaF-KF(46.5–11.5–42 mol.%, FLiNaK), KF-ZrF4 (58-42 mol.
%, FKZr), FLiNaK-ThF4(88.0-12.0 mol.%) was carried out, and the re-
sults were compared. Furthermore, in order to study the effect of the
fluoroacidity on the fluorination of UF4, various amounts of ZrF4 were
added to change the fluoroacidity of FLiNaK. To illuminate the influ-
ence mechanisms of fluoroacidity on the fluorination of UF4, the co-
ordination structure of U(Ⅳ) in FLiNaK with various ZrF4 contents was
studied using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD).
The general experimental procedure for the fluorination was as
follows: approximately 30 g of FliNaK-UF4, FLiNaK-UF4-ThF4, FKZr-
UF4, or FLiNaK-ZrF4-UF4 powder was placed in a nickel crucible, which
was subsequently loaded into the fluorinator. After the fluorinator was
sealed, it was heated to 550 °C and kept at that temperature for 2 h. All
the gas pipelines and valves were heated and maintained at 80–100 °C
to avoid the deposition of UF6. Then, F2/Ar gas was introduced into the
molten salt at a flow rate of 0.1 L/min. The gas leaving the fluorinator
passed through the NaF absorbers at 100 °C, at where the UF6 was
absorbed, and then flowed through an activated alumina absorber and
aqueous KOH-KI scrubber to absorb any residual UF6 and neutralize
excess fluorine, respectively. FTIR was used to detect the gas out of the
fluorinator, and the reaction was stopped when the UF6 concentration
was below the detection limit of the FTIR.
2. Experimental
2.1. Reagents and materials
FLiNaK (LiF-NaF-KF:46.5-11.5-42 mol.%) and FKZr (KF-ZrF4:58-
42 mol.%) molten salts were supplied by Shanghai Institute of Organic
Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) [21]. UF4 (99.9%, de-
pleted uranium, the abundance of 235U is less than 0.3%) was supplied
by China National Nuclear Corporation and used without further pur-
ification. ThF4 (99.99%) was prepared by Changchun Institute of Ap-
plied Chemistry, CAS and used without further purification. ZrF4
(99.9%) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co., Ltd. And was dehy-
drated for 20 h at 200 °C before use. F2-Ar mixed gas (20–80 vol.%,
written as F2/Ar) was purchased from Tianjin Changlu Huaxin Che-
mical Co., Ltd. and contained impurities of air < 0.05 vol.%,
CF4 < 0.01 vol.% and HF < 0.37 vol.%.
2.4. Analysis instrument and method
The uranium and nickel contents in the salt samples before and after
fluorination were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spec-
trometry (ICP-MS, NexION 300D, PerkinElmer). The salt was sampled
in liquid state and ground after solidification in an argon covered glove-
box. Then certain amount of salt samples was dissolved in about 5 ml
HNO3(4 M) solution at 150 ℃, and contents of U、Ni and other ele-
ments were analyzed by ICP-MS.
XRD (X' Pert Pro MPD, PANalytical) equipped with Cu (40 kV,
30 mA) source was employed to characterize the species of Zr(Ⅳ) and U
(Ⅳ) in salts. The salt was also sampled in liquid state and ground after
solidification in an argon covered glove-box. The X'Pert HighScore
database and software were used for pattern-matching.
2.2. Molten salt preparation
The molten salt preparation was carried out in a homemade elec-
trical furnace (maximum temperature: 1000 °C connected to an argon-
covered glovebox. Details of this equipment have been reported pre-
viously [22]. Certain amounts of fluorides (UF4, ThF4 and ZrF4) were
mixed with the FLiNaK or FKZr eutectic in a nickel crucible (Ni purity>
99.96%, Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd.), which was placed
inside the furnace vessel. After the vessel was sealed by covering the lid
and screwing tight, it was first heated to 250 °C and maintained for 2 h
to remove trace moisture. Then, the furnace was heated up to 750 °C
and kept at that temperature for 15 h. The prepared molten salt was
naturally cooled.
Raman spectroscopy (LabRAM HR, HORIBA Jobin Yvon) was also
performed to identify the species of salt. The 532 nm line of an argon
ion laser with 100 mW average power was used for exciting the sample.
The solid salt sample was put in a ceramic furnace and the laser was
focused on the sample through a water-cooled silica window. The in-
tegral time is 20 s, the integral number is 50 times.
3. Results and discussion
2.3. Fluorination of UF4 in different molten salts
3.1. The fluorination of UF4 in different molten salts
The experiments were conducted in the device illustrated in Fig. 1.
gas treatment apparatus, gas pipelines and valves. Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR, Spectrum Two™, Perkin, USA) was used
The fluorination of UF4 in different molten salts, including FLiNaK
(LiF-NaF-KF-UF4: 46.4-11.5-41.9-0.24 mol.%), FKZr (KF-ZrF4-UF4:
57.6-41.7-0.64 mol.%), FLiNaK-ThF4 (LiF-NaF-KF-ThF4-UF4: 40.7-10.1-
36.8-12.0-0.43 mol.%) was carried out under the same conditions, and
100