Molten Salt Electrochemical Reactors Outside of a Glovebox

Molten salt electrochemical reduction (MSER) offers an electrified method for the reduction, refining, and recycling of metals such as iron and metallurgical grade silicon at high efficiency and lower temperatures than traditional methods, which use temperatures >1000C and carbon-based reductants. However, salts appropriate for MSER are moisture and air sensitive, necessitating air-free methods of processing and testing which is often acomplished with a glovebox. Glovebox operations are cumbersome and difficult to troubleshoot reactor issues. We have developed a robust method of testing chloride and carbonate salts in molten salt reactors outside of a glovebox for silicon and carbon production and steel carburization. We highlight a practical guide for glovebox-free testing of molten salt electrochemical reactors to reduce the barriers to performing this type of work. Our aim is to enable other research groups to step into this field with simple and repeatable reactor configurations.