PRODUCTION OF HIGH-GRADE RARE ALKALINE METALS

摘要

Investigations concerned with the development of a technology for the production of high-purity rare alkaline metals have been conducted at the Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Rare Elements and Base Minerals of the Kola Scientific Center in connection with the current demand of the space industry for cesium for use as the working body of the ion engines of spacecraft [1, 2]. The investigations were carried out because of the presence on the Kola Peninsula of deposits of pollucite, hydrated cesium alluminosilicate in which the cesium content reaches 36.77 wt.- percent and that of rubidium, 0.72 wt.- percent. Pollucite ores are easily beneficiated, moreover, it is possible to produce concentrates with cesium oxide content greater than 26 wt .- percent and rubidium oxide content up to 1.7 wt. - percent (the higher-than-average rubidium content is associated with the presence of lepidolite in the concentrate). Below, the basic results of the investigations carried out at the institute will be presented from the standpoint of the development of a technology for the production of high-purity rubidium and cesium.