The Extraction of HREES and LREES with Primene JM-T in Sulphate Media

The number of studies on the separation process of rare earth elements (REEs) has been studied intensively because REEs are playing a very critical role of high-tech products. Due to the restriction of export from China which has a dominating position in terms of reserve and production of REEs, other countries have investigated potential reserves and production techniques of rare earths. In case of Turkiye a high potential REE deposit is located in Eskisehir-Beylikova. In the presented study, the separation of heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) from light rare earth elements (LREEs) from the model solution was studied with solvent extraction. The solution was produced based on dissolution of pre-concentrate of Eskisehir-Beylikova ore by water leaching after acid baking. Primene JM-T was selected as an extractant which has not been studied in the separation of HREEs and LREEs. The key parameters pH, extractant concentration and A/O ratio were optimized. The optimum conditions were determined to be 10% concentration of extractant, pH 1 and A:O ratio, 1:1. The extraction for LREEs was 75-80% while HREEs had lower extraction rates of only 45-70%.