The selective adsorption of rare earth elements by modified coal fly ash based SBA-15

Rare earth elements(REE)are strategic resources and the recycling of REE in alternative resources is urgent and gets increasingly attention.However,the separation of REE in these alternative resources is still a challenge due to the low concentration of REE and multi coexisted ions in acidic system.In this study,the species distribution of REE within the pH 0-8.0 was calculated.The SBA-15 originated from coal fly ash was modified by two steps with(3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane(APTES)and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic dianhydride(DTPADA)to obtain DTPADA-SBA-15 adsorbent,which was applied to the selective adsorption of REE.The results showed that DTPADA-SBA-15 possessed excellent adsorption performance on the selective adsorption of REE,including Eu,Gd,Tb,Nd and Sm,in acidic solution(pH 2)with multi competing ions.The FT-IR and Zeta potential characterization verified that the chemical adsorption through the coordination of O in DTPADA-SBA-15 with REE was dominant at lower pH value.The study of adsorption kinetics indicated that the adsorption of rare earth metal ions followed pseudosecond-order kinetic,of which the adsorption process followed the Langmuir isotherm model.