Behavior of sulfate in preparation of single light rare earth carbonate by Mg(HCO_(3))_(2) precipitation method

The precipitation of the water-leaching solution of Baotou mixed rare earth(RE) concentrate roasted with sulfuric acid using ammonium bicarbonate for producing RE carbonate produces a mass of ammonia-nitrogen wastewater because of the relatively low solubility of rare earth sulfate.To solve the serious problem of ammonia-nitrogen pollution,new precipitators need to be developed urgently so as to meet the requirements of environmental protection and impurities content of the product(SO_(4)^(2-)<1.8 wt% in RE carbonates products).In this paper,we studied the effects of feeding modes on the behavior of SO_(4)^(2-) during the preparation of light RE carbonate(RE=La,Ce,Pr,Nd) from their sulfate solutions using Mg(HCO_(3))_(2) as a precipitant.The results indicate that the contents of SO_(4)^(2-) in the La and Ce precipitates using positive feeding mode exceed 16 wt% because of the formation of La_(2)(CO_(3))2.15(-SO_(4))0.85·4 H_(2)O and Ce_(2)(CO_(3))_(2).15(SO_(4))0.85·3H_(2)O,while those of the Pr and Nd precipitates are 4 wt%-5 wt% since they exist in the form of n-carbonate.The precipitates prepared using synchronous feeding mode are all RE carbonate with only 4 wt%-5 wt% of SO_(4)^(2-) enclosed in the precipitation.The content of SO_(4)^(2-) in the RE carbonate obtained using reverse feeding mode is the lowest.Among them,the content of SO_(4)^(2-) in La precipitate is only 1.40 wt%.Both synchronous and reverse feeding modes can effectively reduce the content of SO_(4)^(2-)in RE carbonate,which provides theoretical guidance for the preparation of qualified light RE carbonate products by Mg(HCO3)2 precipitation method.

Effect of impurity ions on preparation of novel saponifier for rare earth extraction

Magnesium bicarbonate, prepared by the carbonation of magnesium hydroxide slurry, was used as a novel saponifier to eliminate the ammonia nitrogen pollution in the rare earth extraction separation process. The effect of impurity ions introduced by system on the carbonation reaction of magnesium hydroxide was studied in the work. The results showed that the presence of Ca2＋could lead to side reactions so as to reduce the conversion rate of magnesium hydroxide, and a small number of rare earth ions would have great influence on the carbonation reaction. What’s more, there was no influence on carbonation reaction with the low concen-tration of Na＋or Mg2＋, the conversion rate of magnesium hydroxide could reach above 96%. This paper showed a practical theory which could provide scientific guidance for the preparation of novel saponifier in rare earth extraction separation process.