Safe Handling Of Alkali Metals PDF Download

Alkali metals such as those employed in liquid metal coolant systems can be safely reacted to form hydroxides by first dissolving the alkali metal in relatively inert metals such as lead or bismuth. The alloy thus formed is contacted with a molten salt including the alkali metal hydroxide and possibly the alkali metal carbonate in the presence of oxygen. This oxidizes the alkali metal to an oxide which is soluble within the molten salt. The salt is separated and contacted with steam or steam-CO.sub. 2 mixture to convert the alkali metal oxide to the hydroxide. These reactions can be conducted with minimal hydrogen evolution and with the heat of reaction distributed between the several reaction steps.