Clean separation technologies of rare earth resources in China

• Published in: Journal of rare earths Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 331 - 336
• Main Author: 廖春生 吴声 程福祥 卜嵩龄 刘艳 张玻 严纯华
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.04.2013
• Subjects: clean separation; Cleaning; Consumption; Extraction; hyperlink extraction technology; integral hyperlink technology; Oxalic acid; Rare earth metals; rare earths; Raw materials; recycle; Recycled; Separation; 中国; 分离技术; 分离过程; 回收再利用; 稀土分离; 稀土资源; 萃取分离; 超链接; recycle; integral hyperlink technology; clean separation; hyperlink extraction technology; rare earths
• ISSN: 1002-0721; 2509-4963
• DOI: 10.1016/S1002-0721(12)60281-6

After a review on the conventional separation process of rare earths （RE）, hyperlink extraction technology was introduced and a potential process was proposed for clean separation of RE. A great amount of acid, base and water was consumed in the con- ventional RE separation process which included the procedures of raw material dissolving, extraction separation and precipitation. Therefore hyperlink extraction technology had been developed, by which the repeated consumption of acid and base could be avoided during the extraction process. And based on the theory and successfid applications of the hyperlink extraction technology, we pro- posed the integral hyperlink process in which the intermediate acid resulted in individual procedures would be recycled and reused after being treated. The proposed process would make it feasible to consume no chemicals except for oxalic acid, and so could be a promising clean separation technology with a significant reduction on consumption and emission.