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Leaching of Light Rare Earth Elements from Sichuan Bastnaesite: A Facile Process to Leach Trivalent Rare Earth Elements Selectively from Tetravalent Cerium

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Abstract

The effects of the nitric acid concentration, leaching time, leaching temperature, and solid-to-liquid ratio on leaching efficiency were examined. From those results, a facile process for the selective leaching of trivalent rare earth elements (RE(III)) from tetravalent cerium (Ce(IV)) was proposed. The roasted bastnaesite was used to leach 34.87% of RE(III) and 2.15% of Ce(IV) at 60°C for 0.5 h with an acid concentration of 0.5 mol/L. This selective leaching process can be described by the shrinking-core model that follows the kinetic model 1 − 2/3α − (1 − α)2/3. Subsequently, the leached slag was hydrothermally treated and followed by thorough leaching with 4.0-mol/L nitric acid. Furthermore, the specific surface area of the final leached slag is 57.7 m2/g, which is approximately 650 times higher than that of raw ore. Finally, selective leaching of RE(III) (>90%) was achieved without using an organic solvent for extraction, whereas lower value Ce(IV)was presented in the leached slag (>92%).

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51173122, 51641209) and the Science and Technology Support Project of Sichuan Province (2016JY0259).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Land Resources Evaluation and Monitoring in Southwest, Ministry of Education, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Yueyue Shen & Shilin Zhao

  2. Chemistry and Materials Science College, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Yueyue Shen, Xianying Qiu & Shilin Zhao

  3. School of Resources and Environment, Xichang College, Xichang, 615013, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Ying Jiang

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  1. Yueyue Shen
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  2. Ying Jiang
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Correspondence to Shilin Zhao.

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Shen, Y., Jiang, Y., Qiu, X. et al. Leaching of Light Rare Earth Elements from Sichuan Bastnaesite: A Facile Process to Leach Trivalent Rare Earth Elements Selectively from Tetravalent Cerium. JOM 69, 1976–1981 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-017-2458-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-017-2458-8

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