Hydrometallurgical Extraction of Rare Earth Elements From Low Grade Mine Tailings

Whilst bioleaching is primarily used to recover minerals from low-grade ores, the increasing demand for Rare Earth elements combined with supply chain concerns is opening up new avenues of extraction from mine tailings, waste products and recyclable materials. Exploration of new, novel and economically viable techniques are required to manage the coming shortage and volatility of global markets with more environmentally sound alternatives to traditional mining operations holding the key.

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Extraction of rare earth elements from low-grade Bauxite via precipitation reaction

IOP Conference Series Materials Science and Engineering ◽

10.1088/1757-899x/334/1/012052 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 334 ◽

pp. 012052 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

E Kusrini ◽

Y Nurani ◽

ZJ Bahari

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Rare Earth Elements ◽

Precipitation Reaction ◽

Low Grade

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Leaching behaviour of rare earth elements from low-grade weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ore using magnesium sulfate

Clay Minerals ◽

10.1180/clm.2018.37 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 53 (3) ◽

pp. 505-514

Author(s):

Kaihua Chen ◽

Jiannan Pei ◽

Shaohua Yin ◽

Shiwei Li ◽

Jinhui Peng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Rare Earth Elements ◽

Magnesium Sulfate ◽

Low Grade ◽

Second Stage ◽

Leaching Solution ◽

Weathered Crust ◽

Leaching Behaviour ◽

N Pollution ◽

Leaching Efficiency

ABSTRACTThe present study investigates the use of magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) instead of (NH4)2SO4 as a lixiviant in the recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from clays. Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of leaching conditions such as leaching time, lixiviant concentration and liquid:solid ratio on the leaching efficiency. The optimum leaching conditions, leading to 75.48% of total REE leaching efficiency, required a stirring speed of 500 rpm, a leaching time of 30 min, a lixiviant concentration of 3 wt.% and a liquid:solid ratio of 3:1. After extension of the leaching process by a second stage, the leaching efficiency may reach up to 96.19%, which is slightly higher than that obtained by (NH4)2SO4. Leaching varies from element to element, with Ce presenting the lowest leaching efficiency, and the partition in leaching solution is in agreement with that in raw ore other than for Ce. Based on these findings, MgSO4 lixiviant is an excellent alternative leaching agent for a sustainable REE industry because it reduces or eliminates NH4+–N pollution.

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Recovery of Lanthanides from Indonesian Low Grade Bauxite Using Oxalic Acid

Materials Science Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.929.171 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 929 ◽

pp. 171-176 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eny Kusrini ◽

Zakaria Jaka Bahari ◽

Anwar Usman ◽

Arif Rahman ◽

Eko Adi Prasetyanto

Keyword(s):

Rare Earth ◽

Optimum Condition ◽

Oxalic Acid ◽

Rare Earth Elements ◽

Acid Leaching ◽

Experimental Result ◽

Low Grade ◽

Icp Oes ◽

Temperature Dependent ◽

Economical Method

The present work describes the extraction of lanthanide (rare earth elements, REE) from low grade bauxite using acid leaching method. The aim of this study is to obtain the best condition for extraction of lanthanides from low grade bauxite. The effect of different parameters such as temperatures and concentration of oxalic acid in leaching process were investigated. The content of La, Ce and Y elements were determined using ICP-OES. The experimental result shows that the efficiencies of lanthanide leaching are the temperature-dependent. Increasing leaching temperature from 45°C to 85°C did not improve recoveries of lanthanides. The most optimum condition was found at oxalic acid leaching of 1 mol/L, leaching temperature at 40°C, and time for 2 hours. The obtained results show that the lanthanides can be leached using oxalic axid. This finding may lead to more effective and economical method to separate lanthanides from low grade bauxite.

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