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Integrated process development for the recovery of Europium and Yttrium from waste fluorescent powder

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Abstract

Fluorescent powder plays an important role in the modern electronic lighting products. During the production of electronic lighting products, a large amount of waste fluorescent powder is generated. The major rare earth composition of this waste fluorescent powder is Europium (Eu) and Yttrium (Y), both being valuable resources worthy of the recycling process. To recover (Eu) and (Y) from the fluorescent powder, an integrated leaching method is adopted in this study. Leaching tests are performed and optimized with the use of various leaching reagents. Reagents such as HCl, HNO3, H2SO4, and NaOH are used along with the method of varying the leaching time and solid/liquid ratios at 27 and 70 °C. The result of leaching tests shows that the Eu and Y present in the waste fluorescent powder can be 100 % leached using 1 N sulfuric acid under the conditions of 1 h leaching time, 3 g/50 mL solid/liquid ratio, and 70 °C temperature. The optimal leaching solution is subjected to crystallization and replacement process to recover Eu and Y and achieved maximum recovery of 79 and 47 % Eu and Y, respectively. Further, the recovery efficiency of Eu and Y are compared with various precipitating reagents such as sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate, ammonium bicarbonate and ammonium sulfate, and achieved 100 % with sodium bicarbonate and ammonium bicarbonate. The recovery efficiency of Eu and Y is also achieved to be 100 % with pH adjustment method.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support by the Misson Vigor Tech Co., Ltd., Taiwan is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, Da-Yeh University, Changhua, 51591, Taiwan, ROC

    Ching-Hwa Lee, Ching-Hua Liao & Chi-En Hung

  2. Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown, 11000, St. Michael, Barbados

    Srinivasa R. Popuri

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  1. Ching-Hwa Lee
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  2. Ching-Hua Liao
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  3. Srinivasa R. Popuri
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  4. Chi-En Hung
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Correspondence to Ching-Hua Liao.

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Lee, CH., Liao, CH., Popuri, S.R. et al. Integrated process development for the recovery of Europium and Yttrium from waste fluorescent powder. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 19, 1235–1243 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-016-0515-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-016-0515-y

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