Continuous vacuum distillation and furnace therefor

摘要

A vacuum distillation furnace and method for removing unreacted magnesium metal and magnesium chloride from a sponge refractory metal, such as zirconium, utilizes a vertically arranged series of mutually isolated distillation vessels in respective furnace sections for continuous or semi-continuous vacuum distillation of the sponge metal following formation thereof by usual reduction procedures.