Molten CaCl2-CaF2 and CaCl2-LiF mixtures containing 12 wt pct of the fluoride were used as the electrolytes, respectively, to study the possibility of dissolving a by-product of Reaction [6], such as Ca3N2 or Li3N, in the respective electrolyte and, therefore, promoting Reaction [6] (experiments 3 and 4). It was found from Table III that, for both cases, there were no metallic phases in the cathode products. When using the CaCl2-CaF2 electrolyte melt, some of the Al2O3 reacted with the (CaO) dissolved in the melt to form Ca aluminates such as Ca12Al14O33, whereas no such Ca aluminates were detected in the cathode products after electrolysis in the CaCl2-LiF electrolyte. It was also found that the AlN remained in the dross pellet electrolyzed in the CaCl2-LiF electrolyte. In contrast, there was no AlN in the dross pellet after electrolysis in the CaCl2-CaF2 electrolyte. However, a certain amount of the NH4Cl and minor quantities of the Al(OH)3 and AlO(OH) were detected in the powder sample from experiment 3 after the cleaning treatment.
