Process for recovering metal chlorides from gaseous mixtures

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE RECOVERY OF NORMALLY SOLID, VOLATILE METAL CHLORIDES SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF COLUMBIUM, TUNGSTEN, MOLYBDENUM AND ZIRCONIUM CHLORIDES FROM A GASEOUS MIXTURE THEREOF WITH FERRIC CHLORIDE, COMPRISING FIRST SEPARATING CHLORIDE FROM SAID MIXTURE BY CONTACTING THE SAME WITH AN AT LEAST PARTLY MOLTEN MIXTURE OF FERRIC CHLORIDE AND SODIUM CHLORIDE AT A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT TEMPERATURE ABOVE THE CONDENSATION POINT OF SAID METAL CHLORIDES, SEPARATING THE REMAINING GAS FROM THE MOLTEN MIXTURE EFFECTING SELECTIVE VAPOR-PHASE CONDENSATION OF THE NORMALLY SOLID, VOLATILE METAL CHLORIDES REMAINING IN THE SEPARATOR GAS BY ADMIXTURE THEREOF WITH A QUENCH FLUID THAT IS INERT WITH RESPECT TO THE VOLATILE METAL CHLORIDES AND THAT IS GASEOUS AT THE QUENCHED TEMPERATURE, SAID SELECTIVE VAPOR-PHASE CONDENSATION BEING EFFECTED AT A TEMPERATURE SUCH AS TO REDUCE THE TEMPERATURE OF THE GAS BELOW THE SOLIDIFICATION TEMPERATURE OF SAID METAL CHLORIDES WITHOUT CONDENSATION OF LOWER BOILING CHLORIDES, AND SEPARATING THE CONDENSED METAL CHLORIDES FROM UNCONDENSED GAS.