Recovery of rare earth elements from acidic solutions using macroporous ion exchangers

ABSTRACT

Adsorption effectiveness of Amberlite 200C Na, Amberlite 200C H and Dowex M 4195 towards La(III), Ce(III) and Nd(III) was carried out. The effects of phase contact time, initial metal concentration and temperature were studied to evaluate the kinetic, equilibrium and thermodynamic parameters for the sorption process. The structure and physicochemical properties of the ion exchangers were characterized. For Dowex M 4195, the Freundlich equation, and for Amberlite 200C Na as well as Amberlite 200C H, both the Langmuir and Freundlich models proved to be suitable. The monitored thermodynamic parameters indicated that the sorption was an exothermic, favourable and spontaneous process.

KEYWORDS:

• Rare earth elements
• recovery
• amberlite 200C Na
• amberlite 200C H
• dowex M 4195

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Dow Chemical Company for the support during the research and Ms. Malwina Majdańska for her help in its carrying out. We also acknowledge the financial support from the National Centre of Research and Development within Project No. POIR.04.01.01-00-0040/17-00.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Centre of Research and Development [Project Proposal No. POIR.04.01.01-00-0040/17];