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Synergistic leaching process for ion-exchange ammonium from weathered crust elution deposited rare earth tailings with potassium magnesium compound eluent

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Abstract

The ion-exchangeable ammonium (IE-A) that accounts for 60–90% of the total residual ammonium in rare earth tailings has great potential to pollute the surrounding environment, and much research has been done to seek an effective elution method. However, the current study mainly focused on the single salt solution, which made it hard to reach the desired elution efficiency. In this study, the efficient binary compound eluent was prepared, and the response surface experiments and dynamic elution were performed to optimize the elution condition and evaluate the practical application prospect. Batch experimental results showed that the best IE-A elution efficiency could be achieved at the K:Mg molar ratio of 8:2, the liquid–solid ratio of 26:1, and the concentration of 0.1 mol/L at the natural solution pH. Dynamic experimental results indicated that a higher concentration, flow rate, and elution temperature could all accelerate the elution process, and the highest elution efficiency could reach 99%. The fitting results by shrinking core models show that the apparent activation energy of IE-A was 4.24 kJ/mol in the temperature range of 288–328 K, and the reaction order was 0.16. XPS and FTIR revealed that IE-A was effectively eluted by a potassium and magnesium compound leaching agent via an ion-exchange reaction. Overall, the developed compound solution with potassium and magnesium is a candidate for an elution agent that could be used to remove residual ammonium in a closed field of rare earth ores.

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Acknowledgements

The work is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52274267), National Key Research and Development Project (No. 2018YFC1801801), the Innovative Team program of Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2021CFA032), the Application foundation project of Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau (No. 2020020601012276), and the Program for Excellent Young Scientific and Technological Innovation Team of Hubei Provincial Department of Education, China (No. T201506).

Funding

The work is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21978226), the National Key Research and Development Project (No. 2018YFC1801801), the Innovative Team program of Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2021CFA032), the Application Foundation Project of Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau (No. 2020020601012276), and the Program for Excellent Young Scientific and Technological Innovation Team of Hubei Provincial Department of Education, China (No. T201506), National project (No. 52274267).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Novel Biomass-Based Environmental and Energy Materials in Petroleum and Chemical Industry, Hubei Novel Reactor & Green Chemical Technology Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Process of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, No. 693 Xiongchu Avenue, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoju Li, Junxia Yu, Xiaodi Li, Ze Ouyang, Rong Wang, Zhenyue Zhang, Chunqiao Xiao & Ruan Chi

  2. Bureau of Ecology and Environment of Xiaogan City, Yingcheng Branch, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Guoping Song

Authors
  1. Xiaoju Li
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  2. Junxia Yu
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  3. Xiaodi Li
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  4. Guoping Song
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  5. Ze Ouyang
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  6. Rong Wang
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  7. Zhenyue Zhang
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  8. Chunqiao Xiao
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  9. Ruan Chi
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Contributions

Xiaoju Li: conceptualization; methodology; investigation; formal analysis; writing—original draft; writing—review and editing. Junxia Yu: conceptualization, formal analysis, resources, writing—review and editing. Xiaodi Li: editing, investigation, methodology, resources. Guoping Song: resources. Ze Ouyang: formal analysis. Rong Wang: formal analysis. Zhenyue Zhang: methodology, validation, resources, supervision. Chunqiao Xiao: investigation. Ruan Chi: methodology; validation; formal analysis; resources; project administration; writing—review and editing; supervision; funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Junxia Yu.

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Li, X., Yu, J., Li, X. et al. Synergistic leaching process for ion-exchange ammonium from weathered crust elution deposited rare earth tailings with potassium magnesium compound eluent. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 121513–121528 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30879-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30879-w

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