RARE EARTH ELEMENT COMPOSITIONS OBTAINED FROM PARTICULATE MATERIAL COMPRISING KAOLINITE AND METHODS FOR OBTAINING RARE EARTH ELEMENT COMPOSITIONS FROM PARTICULATE MATERIAL COMPRISING KAOLINITE

• Main Authors: DAVIS, Jondahl, PRUETT, Robert, J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 21.07.2021
• Subjects: ARTIFICIAL STONE; CEMENTS; CERAMICS; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF, e.g. MORTARS, CONCRETE OR LIKE BUILDINGMATERIALS; COMPOUNDS OF THE METALS BERYLLIUM, MAGNESIUM, ALUMINIUM,CALCIUM, STRONTIUM, BARIUM, RADIUM, THORIUM, OR OF THERARE-EARTH METALS; CONCRETE; DIFFERENTIAL SEDIMENTATION; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; FLOTATION; INORGANIC CHEMISTRY; LIME, MAGNESIA; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLIDMATERIALS OR FLUIDS; METALLURGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS; PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; REFRACTORIES; SEPARATION; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS; SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATICTABLES OR JIGS; SLAG; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS; TREATMENT OF NATURAL STONE

A method for obtaining rare earth element compositions may include providing a dispersed aqueous suspension of a particulate material including at least one rare earth element compound and kaolinite. The method may further include adding to the suspension a selective flocculation polymer that facilitates separation of at least a portion of the at least one rare earth element compound from the kaolinite by flocculating the kaolinite and allowing particles of the rare earth element compound to be or remain deflocculated. The method may also include allowing the suspension containing the polymer to separate in a selective flocculation separator into layers including a flocculated product layer and a deflocculated layer containing the portion of the at least one rare earth element compound. The method may further include extracting each of the separated layers from the separator. The rare earth element compound may include La2O3, CeO2, Nd2O3, or Y2O3.