Thermodynamic assessment of the LiCl–KCl–CeCl3 system

Abstract The ternary system LiCl–KCl–CeCl3 and binary subsystems LiCl–CeCl3 and KCl–CeCl3 were critically assessed by using CALPHAD method based on available literature data in the present work. A two-sublattice ionic solution model (Li+, K+, Ce3+)P(Cl−, K2CeCl5)Q was adopted to describe the ternary liquid phase. Most of the experimental data can be reproduced well and a reasonable description of equilibrium phase in LiCl–KCl–CeCl3 was given with the present set of thermodynamic parameters. Gibbs energy functions of the binary subsystems LiCl–CeCl3 and KCl–CeCl3 were improved by employing the activities of alkali chlorides in the salts besides the experimental information of phase diagrams and enthalpies of mixing compared with previous work. Thermodynamic functions of the intermediate compounds concerned with the systems were evaluated more reasonably in the present work.