Progress in green and efficient enrichment of rare earth from leaching liquor of ion adsorption type rare earth ores

Ion adsorption type rare earth ores(IATREOs)are a valuable strategic mineral resource in China,which feature a complete composition of fifteen rare earth elements and are rich in medium and heavy rare earth(RE)elements.In the leaching process for recovering rare earth elements from IATREOs,many impurities will be leached together with rare earth elements and enter the leaching liquor.An impurity removal-precipitation enrichment technique is currently applied to selectively recovery rare earth elements from the leaching liquor with the high content of impurities and low concentration of rare earth elements by using ammonium bicarbonate in the industry.However,a high loss of rare earth elements and severe ammonia nitrogen pollution are caused by this process.Therefore,more beneficial impurities removal technologies,mainly for aluminum,and green enrichment technologies with lower pollution are now urgently needed.For this purpose,this paper analyzed two aspects of research progress in recent decades:the green separation of rare earth elements and aluminum from leaching liquor and the green and efficient enrichment of rare earth elements.Finally,an approach for the high-efficiency and green enrichment of rare earth elements from leaching liquor of the IATREOs is proposed in several aspects,including impurity inhibition leaching,neutralization and impurity removal,alkaline calcium and magnesium salt precipitation enrichment,and centrifugal extraction enrichment.

Solvent extraction of V(Ⅴ) and Cr(Ⅲ) from acidic leach liquors of ilmenite using Aliquat 336

Extraction of V（V） and Cr（III） from acidic sulfate leach liquors of ilmenite using 0.4 mol/L Aliquat 336 chloride in kerosene was carried out. Different parameters affecting the extraction process such as equilibrium time, sulfate concentration, Aliquat 336 concentration, equilibrium p H and the extraction temperature were investigated. Extraction of V（V） and Cr（III） by Aliquat 336 involved anion exchange mechanism, and the extracted species are [（VO2SO4）R4N]org at low equilibrium p H for V（V） and [R4N-Cr（OH）4]org at high equilibrium p H for Cr（III）. Calculated thermodynamic parameters show that the extraction process is endothermic reaction for V（V） and exothermic for Cr（III）. Also, calculated values of ？Gex and ？Sex indicate that the extraction reactions of V（V） and Cr（III） proceed as non-spontaneous reaction is more random. V（V） and Cr（III） were stripped, precipitated, separated and calcined at 500 °C for 2.0 h to produce the corresponding oxide in pure form after rinsing and drying.

Effects of Vermicompost Leach Liquor on Yield and Quality of Wheat

Medium gluten wheat cultivar Yangmai 21 was sprayed with vermicompost leach liquor after blooming stage to investigate the effects of verrnicompost leach liquor on grain number, yield and quality of wheat. According to the results, vermi- compost leach liquor reduced average grain number by 2.1%, significantly increased 1 000-grain weight by 15.2%, enhanced grain weight and grain yield by 6.4% and 4.3%, improved grain starch content, protein content and wet gluten content by 1.5%, 1.4% and 2.3%, respectively, and declined moisture content by 12.3%. Apply- ing vermicompost leach liquor after blooming stage is an effective method to im- prove varietal characteristics, grain weight, yield and quality of wheat.

Synthesis and characterization of Co_3O_4 prepared from atmospheric pressure acid leach liquors of nickel laterite ores

A chemical precipitation-thermal decomposition method was developed to synthesize Co3O4 nanoparticles using cobalt liquor obtained from the atmospheric pressure acid leaching process of nickel laterite ores. The effects of the precursor reaction temperature, the concentration of Co2＋, and the calcination temperature on the specific surface area, morphology, and the electrochemical behavior of the ob- tained Co304 particles were investigated. The precursor basic cobaltous carbonate and cobaltosic oxide products were characterized and ana- lyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, specific surface area analysis, and electrochemical analysis. The results indicate that the specific surface area of the Co3O4particles with a diameter of 30 rim, which were obtained under the optimum conditions of a precursor reaction temperature of 30℃, 0.25 mol/L Co2＋, and a calcination temperature of 350℃, was 48.89 m2/g. Electrodes fabricated using Co3O4 nanoparticles exhibited good electrochemical properties, with a specific capacitance of 216.3 F/g at a scan rate of 100 mV/s.