high purity re carbonate production, page-15

Hi Stoops

A ton of Re oxides should always be worth more than a ton of Re carbonate

It is to do with the Atomic mass of each element

as an example

Lanthanum = 138.90547

Carbon = 12.011

Oxygen = 15.999

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Lanthanum carbonate, La2(CO3)3 = 457.838

Lanthanum oxide is La2O3 = 325.809

2 Lanthanum atoms = 277.81094

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You can see how the oxide adds to the molecular mass and how much more the carbonate adds

Typically if you convert an Re oxide to a metal you lose at least 15% of the mass and even more so when you convert the carbonate .

It appears that the (CO3)3 is about 39%
and the O3 about 15%

which means that in a tonne of lanthanum carbonate ,there is only approx 610kg of Lanthanum and
in a tonne of Lanthanum Oxide the is about 850 Kg of lanthanum


Hope that helps but I am sure that other posters could explain it better and provide a better example


Tonio