Reduction of stable oxides

Abstract From the Canadian patent

In a process for the carbothermal reduction of alumina carbon and alumina are supplied to a molten reaction bed in a hearth in the floor of a reactor. The reaction bed is supplied with energy by contact with plasma or with plasma effluents. For this purpose the reaction bed itself may form the counterelectrode for a plasma gun orbiting about the vertical axis of the reactor or there may be an intermediate counter-electrode. In either case the hearth is preferably electroconductive to provide current path from the material in the reaction bed. Some or all of the feed material entering the reaction bed may enter the upper end of the reactor and descend through the plasma. At least part of the …