The powder is boiled in a large quantity of water so as to
remove everything soluble. There is obtained a faintly alkaline
solution and a sediment insoluble in water. From the filtrate alkalies
throw down zirconium hydroxide, free from iron.
The portion insoluble in water is readily dissolved in hydrofluoric
acid, and is converted into zircon potassium fluoride. The chief bulk
of the zirconium is found in the aqueous solution in the state of
double fluorides. The platinum crucible is not in the least attacked
during melting. On the contrary, dirty platinum crucibles may be
advantageously cleaned by melting in them a little of the above
mentioned mixture.
If finely divided zircon is boiled for a long time with caustic lye,
it is perceptibly attacked. It is very probable that in this manner
zircon might be entirely dissolved under a pressure of 10 atmospheres.
Potassium borofluoride may be readily prepared from cryolite.
Crucibles of nickel seem especially well adapted for the fusion of
zircon in caustic alkalies.--_Ber. Boehm. Gesell. Wissenschaft;
Chem. News_.
* * * * *
A PROCESS FOR MAKING WROUGHT IRON DIRECT FROM THE ORE.[1]
[Footnote 1: A paper read at the Cincinnati Meeting of the
American Institute of Mining Engineers, by Willard P. Ward, A.M.,
M.E., February, 1884.]
The numerous direct processes which have been patented and brought
before the iron masters of the world, differ materially from that now
introduced by Mr.
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