Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology

The dehydration schemes of rare earth (La, Ce, Nd, Pr, Sm. Eu, Gd, Y) chloride hydrates was investigated by using a dehydration apparatus. To prevent the formation of the rare earth oxychlorides, the operation temperature was changed step by step (80 → 150 → 230 ℃ ) based on the TGA (thermo-gravimetric analysis) results of the rare earth chloride hydrates. A vacuum pump and preheated Ar gas were used to effectively remove the evaporated moisture and maintain an inert condition in the dehydration apparatus. The dehydration temperature of the rare earth chloride hydrate was increased when the atomic number of the rare earth nuclide was increased. The content of the moisture in the rare earth chloride hydrate was decreased below 10% in the dehydration apparatus.

Keywords

Dehydration,rare-earth chloride hydrates,Anhydrous rare-earth chlorides