Process for producing metallic zirconium

Claim 1

A process for producing metallic zirconium by reacting zirconium tetrachloride vapor with molten magnesium contained in a reducing crucible which process comprises: (1) Introducing zirconium tetrachloride vapor through a guide pipe means extending above and towards molten magnesium contained in a reducing crucible, said crucible being enclosed in a retort which is separately provided from a storage tank for the zirconium tetrachloride vapor, said vapor being introduced onto the middle surface of the magnesium with a differential pressure of 0.1 to 0.2 kg/cm 2 between said retort and said storage tank, said reducing crucible being cooled from the outside in the course of the reaction thus caused between the zirconium tetrachloride with magnesium in the middle surface of the magnesium in a zone away from the crucible wall so as not to raise the temperature of said crucible wall and thereby eliminating the alloy formation of the zirconium product with the crucible wall material, to result in a preferred zirconium sponge layer deposit disposed at the bottom of said crucible, which contains the magnesium, with little adhesion of the sponge to the wall of the crucible, said sponge layer being covered by a layer of magnesium chloride by-product; (2) freezing the by-product; (3) cutting the crucible which contains zirconium sponge and the entire solid magnesium chloride by-product substantially horizontally and at a level such that substantially all of the zirconium sponge is separated from the by-product and thus contains only a small amount of said by-product; (4) collecting a plurality of cut crucibles obtained by such reaction operations; (5) placing said plurality of crucibles, which contain the zirconium sponge, together in a stack in a vacuum distilling device; (6) heating said plurality of crucibles to remove any remaining by-product at a temperature high enough to evaporate said by-product; and (7) recovering the purified zirconium sponge.