金属铌的火法制备和提纯研究现状与进展

Research status and progress on the preparation and purification of niobium metal by pyrometallurgy

摘要:

铌作为一种战略性关键金属,因其卓越的性能而被广泛应用于航空航天、核工业、超导体等领域。随着可持续发展的要求,铌冶炼过程中的能耗问题日益突出。绿色、低碳和节能已成为未来的新发展方向。此外,微电子行业需要高纯铌作为溅射靶材。尽管铌的纯度最高已达到 5N,但低成本的高纯化技术仍颇具挑战性。本文总结了通过火法冶金制备和提纯粗铌的各种方法。作为生产粗铌的传统方法,热还原法的关键问题在于如何降低能耗；作为有工业前景的技术,熔盐电解已发展出多种方法,但效率仍有待提高。此外,一些新兴技术不断涌现,例如借助数字孪生和人工智能的全自动熔炼技术。未来,需要结合多种技术手段来提纯金属铌。本文还简要介绍了铌回收的现状,并基于“城市矿山”的理念进一步探讨了铌的全生命周期,以期为实现铌的回收利用提供方向。

Abstract:

As a critical metal, niobium is widely used in the strategic fields of aerospace, nuclear industry, superconductors owing to its superior properties. With the requirement of sustainable development, the energy consumption in niobium smelting process has attracted increasing attention. Green, low-carbon and energy-saving have become the new development direction. In addition, microelectronics technology requires high-purity niobium as sputtering target material. Although the highest purity of niobium has reached 5N, the low-cost high purification technology is still challenging. This review discusses and summarizes a variety of methods of preparation and purification of crude niobium by pyrometallurgy. The key challenge of thermal reduction method is how to reduce energy consumption; molten salt electrolysis has developed a variety of methods, but the efficiency needs to be further improved. In addition, some new purification technologies are constantly emerging, such as fully automated melting technology assisted by digital twin and artificial intelligence. In the future, a variety of technical means need to be combined to purify metal niobium. This article also briefly introduces the current status of niobium recovery and further explores the full life cycle of niobium based on the concept of "urban mine", in order to provide direction for achieving niobium recycling.