Issue 5, 2024

Flow-driven enhancement of neodymium and dysprosium separation from aqueous solutions

Abstract

Selective extraction of rare earth elements (REEs) from waste NdFeB magnets and natural mineral sources has been challenging due to the similar properties of neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy). Current separation methods mainly include solvent extraction and organic ligand-based selective precipitation, which are chemical- and energy-intensive in addition to the long separation times required to reach thermodynamic equilibrium. Here, we demonstrate a laminar co-flow method that relies on flow-induced non-equilibrium conditions to selectively precipitate Dy3+ from aqueous solutions containing mixed Nd3+ and Dy3+ at various ratios. The concentration of reactant sodium dibutyl phosphate for selective precipitation was identified based on the differences in the spatiotemporal dynamics of the Nd3+ and Dy3+ precipitates. Under optimized conditions, our method showed increased Dy purity in the precipitate product at significantly shorter reaction times, compared to commonly used convective bulk mixing. We found a nearly Dy-pure (99.9%) precipitate from starting mixtures of Nd : Dy in 50 : 50 and 30 : 70 ratios. Our single-step method is efficient and environmentally friendly and does not require harmful organic solvents or difficult to synthesize complex ligands.

Graphical abstract: Flow-driven enhancement of neodymium and dysprosium separation from aqueous solutions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 Nov 2023
Accepted
06 Feb 2024
First published
12 Feb 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Sustain., 2024,2, 1400-1407

Flow-driven enhancement of neodymium and dysprosium separation from aqueous solutions

Q. Wang and C. V. Subban, RSC Sustain., 2024, 2, 1400 DOI: 10.1039/D3SU00403A

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