The chemical formula of scandium oxide is Sc2O3, a white solid that is soluble in water and hot acid. Due to the difficulty of directly extracting scandium products from scandium containing minerals, scandium oxide is currently mainly recovered and extracted from by-products of scandium containing minerals such as waste residue, wastewater, smoke, and red mud.
Scandium is a chemical element with the symbol Sc and the atomic number 21. The single substance is a soft, silvery-white transition metal, often mixed with gadolinium, erbium, etc., with very little production, and the content in the earth's crust is about 0.0005%. Scandium is an important strategic product. Developed countries such as Europe and the United States have introduced relevant encouragement and sorting. For example, in the list of 35 key minerals published by the United States, scandium is listed as an industrial raw material; the "Guidelines for the First Batch Application Demonstration of Key New Materials (2018 Edition)" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology involves 3 new materials involving scandium and its products.
Scandium oxide
At present, scandium oxide has been widely used in alloys, fuel cells, cathode materials, scandium sodium halogen lamps, catalysts, activators and ceramics. Aluminum-scandium alloys made of scandium and aluminum have the advantages of low density, high strength, high hardness, good plasticity, corrosion resistance and strong thermal stability. They are well used in the structural parts of missiles, aerospace, aviation, automobiles and ships. Scandium-sodium halogen lamps made from scandium oxide have the advantages of high brightness, good light color, power saving, long life and strong fog breaking ability. They save 80% more electricity than incandescent lamps and 50% more electricity than mercury lamps. The service life is 5,000 to 25,000 hours, which is particularly suitable for outdoor venues. According to the "2021-2026 China Scandium Oxide Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report" released by the Xinshijie Industry Research Center, scandium oxide is expensive, which restricts its large-scale application. The current global market size is about 400 million yuan.
SOFC
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) consist of externally provided fuel and oxidant, cathode, anode and electrolyte. As an efficient and clean energy source, they are known as the green battery of the 21st century. The energy conversion efficiency of general fuel cells is 50-70%, while the comprehensive efficiency of SOFCs using a combined heat and power system can be as high as 80%. They can be used as fixed power stations in civil fields such as large-scale centralized power supply, medium-sized distributed power supply, and small household combined heat and power supply. In addition, they can also be used as mobile power sources such as ship power sources and transportation vehicle power sources, and have broad application prospects.
Scandium stabilized cerium zirconium composite powder (referred to as scandium zirconium powder) can be used as an electrolyte material for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). This material is currently the electrolyte material with the highest reported conductivity, and its conductivity at 780 ℃ is comparable to that of YSZ at 1000 ℃. This product can replace traditional yttria stabilized zirconia materials, with higher conductivity and long-term stability, which can reduce the operating temperature of SOFC, reduce energy consumption, and improve energy conversion efficiency.
Post time: Oct-23-2024