Patent ID: 7753989

Claim:
A method of producing a friable, passivated metal powder, comprising the steps of: introducing a metal halide vapor into a stream of liquid metal present in stoichiometric excess, wherein the stream of liquid metal is selected from the group consisting of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, or mixtures thereof, to thereby form a reaction zone in which the metal halide vapor is reduced by the liquid metal to form reaction products; separating substantially all of the excess liquid metal from the reaction products, wherein the reaction products include a metal powder; growing the metal powder until particles forming the metal powder have average diameters calculated from BET surface area measurement of greater than about one micron; cooling the metal powder; and directly contacting the cooled metal powder with a passivating agent to thereby provide a passivated and friable metal powder, the passivating agent selected from the group consisting of water and brine.