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Separation and purification of Yb2O3 by ion exchange chromatography and preparation of ultra-high purity Yb2O3

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Abstract

Ultra-high purity Yb2O3 is the critical material of many high-tech materials such as laser glass and fiber, in which impurities seriously affect the laser color quality, intensity and power. In order to reduce the influence of impurities on the properties of laser materials, the purification process of Yb2O3 was studied by comparing two kinds of resins (RT-1 and RS-1) using improved ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) method. In this study, through the synergistic improvement of resin structure and eluting system, the environmental pollution caused by ammonia water in the traditional IEC method was reduced, and the requirements of high temperature and pressure were cut. The ion exchange behavior and impurity removal mechanism in the resin column during the loading and eluting process were compared and analyzed. The experimental results show that RS-1 resin is all superior to RT-1 resin in elements selectivity, ion exchange capacity and impurities removal rate. After separation and purification by IEC with RS-1 resin, the total removal rate of rare earth impurities was 77.59% and that of non-rare earth impurities was 95.86% when Yb recovery was more than 70%, both higher than that of RT-1 resin (73.26% and 83.18%). This indicates that the improved IEC method is very effective in separating and removing different metal impurities from Yb2O3. The pilot test results of IEC method separating and purifying Yb2O3 with RS-1 resin show that the purity of Yb2O3 can be increased from 99.9929% to 99.9997% by IEC method. It has exhibited huge potential of preparing ultra-high purity Yb2O3, especially the deep removal of non-rare earth impurities.

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摘要

超高纯Yb2O3是激光玻璃、光纤等许多高科技材料的关键原料，其中的痕量杂质严重影响激光强度和功率。为了减少杂质对激光材料性能的影响，采用新体系的离子交换色谱法对两种酸性离子交换树脂RT-1和RS-1提纯Yb2O3工艺进行了对比研究。本研究通过树脂结构和淋洗体系的协同改进，减少了传统离子交换提纯过程中氨水对环境的污染，并且不必高温高压的苛刻条件。比较分析了树脂柱在负载和淋洗过程中的离子交换行为和杂质去除机理。实验结果表明，RS-1树脂在离子选择性、离子交换容量和杂质去除率方面均优于RT-1树脂。RS-1树脂经离子交换分离提纯，Yb回收率大于70%时，稀土杂质的总去除率为77.59%，非稀土杂质的总去除率为95.86%，均高于RT-1树脂（73.26%和83.18%）。这表明新体系离子交换色谱法是分离提纯Yb2O3的有效方法。采用RS-1树脂分离提纯Yb2O3的中试结果表明，新体系离子交换色谱法可将Yb2O3纯度由99.9929%提高到99.9997%，在制备超高纯Yb2O3，特别是非稀土杂质的深度去除方面表现出良好的应用前景。

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2020YFC1909004), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2020M680615 and 2021T140581) and the Youth Fund Project of GRINM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center for Rare Earth, China GRINM Group Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100088, China

    Xi-Juan Pan, Zhi-Qing Yang, Yang Xu, Meng Wang, Xiao-Wei Huang, Zong-Yu Feng, Qiang Zhong & Xin-Lin Peng

  2. GRIREM HI-TECH Co., Ltd., Langfang, 065201, China

    Xi-Juan Pan, Zhi-Qing Yang, Yang Xu, Meng Wang, Xiao-Wei Huang, Zong-Yu Feng, Qiang Zhong & Xin-Lin Peng

  3. GRIREM Advanced Materials Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100088, China

    Xi-Juan Pan, Zhi-Qing Yang, Yang Xu, Meng Wang, Xiao-Wei Huang, Zong-Yu Feng, Qiang Zhong & Xin-Lin Peng

  4. General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals, Beijing, 100088, China

    Xi-Juan Pan, Zhi-Qing Yang, Yang Xu, Meng Wang, Xiao-Wei Huang, Zong-Yu Feng, Qiang Zhong & Xin-Lin Peng

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  1. Xi-Juan Pan
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Pan, XJ., Yang, ZQ., Xu, Y. et al. Separation and purification of Yb2O3 by ion exchange chromatography and preparation of ultra-high purity Yb2O3. Rare Met. 42, 2725–2735 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-023-02275-3

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