Isolation of Molybdenum Metal from MoO3

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Noblenaga
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Isolation of Molybdenum Metal from MoO3

Post by Noblenaga »

I’ve been looking around online to get a solid answer but can’t find a safe easy to deal with (not necessarily simple) way of taking away oxide from MoO3 and obtaining pure Mo. I’m starting with NaMoO4, adding nitric acid to produce insoluble MoO3, I would just do the aluminum chloride deposit trick with MoO3 and hydrochloride, but it produces chlorine gas and water which hydrolyzes the MoCl back to oxide and hcl. Are there any salts who’s metal has a Pauling electronegativity above that of molybdenum, such as maybe lead chloride, that is known to produce MoCl. Or if there’s some other simpler way of separating the Mo from oxide, Thanks for reading
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ChenBeier
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Re: Isolation of Molybdenum Metal from MoO3

Post by ChenBeier »

In my knowledge it can only obtained pure, if MoO3 or MoO2 is reduced with hydrogen at 1100°C.

Other possibilities is by Thermit reaction like iron does.
MoO3 + 2 Al => Al2O3 + Mo
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