Thermodynamic optimization of KCl-LiCl-LaCl3 with ionic two-sublattice Model for liquid

The pyroprocessing technology can reduce nuclear waste by recovering uranium from spent nuclear fuels. To fully take advantage of this technique, it is crucial to have a better understanding of the thermodynamic behavior evolution of the eutectic KCl-LiCl electrolyte with the accumulation of impurities such as lanthanides. The present study carries out thermodynamic modeling for the KCl-LiCl-LaCl3 system and its binary subsystems using the CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams) approach for the first time to predict the liquidus temperatures of KCl-LiCl eutectic as a function of LaCl3 content. Three possible ionic two-sublattice models have been implemented to describe the liquid phase for comparison. Model 1 only involves simple cations and anions. Model 2 and 3 consider short-range ordering in the liquid and introduce species K2LaCl5 and LaCl63-, respectively. It was demonstrated that from the thermodynamics point of view, Model 1 is sufficient to reproduce both phase equilibria and enthalpy of mixing data, whereas Models 2 and 3 seem redundant and increase the number of parameters, which may further lead to poor extrapolation behavior towards multicomponent systems. To achieve better agreements with experimental phase equilibria data and estimated enthalpy of mixing data using the surrounded-ion model, three ternary parameters were optimized for the KCl-LiCl-LaCl3 system. The resultant calculations can well reproduce the experiments and provide insights into the liquidus temperature variation as the mole fraction of LaCl3 increases in the electrolyte.