Patents Assigned to Cabot Performance Material
  • Recovery of spent catalyst
    Patent number: 5620936
    Abstract: A process is disclosed for converting a spent catalyst from conventional fluorination processes into a commercially useful tantalum or niobium salt such as K.sub.2 TaF.sub.7 or K.sub.2 NbF.sub.7. The process broadly relates to dissolving the spent catalyst in water or an aqueous hydrofluoric acid solution, separating and disposing the undissolved residue, extracting the aqueous solution with a suitable solvent such as methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), and obtaining useful tantalum products from the MIBK solution such as a tantalum salt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 15, 1997
    Assignees: E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, Cabot Performance Material
    Inventors: Vinci M. Felix, Charles E. Mosheim, Norman A. Carlson