Citation: Huifang XIAO, Xiaoqian HU, Xiaofan YE, Lihui LIU, Fen NIE, Yanrong DING, Ying MA, Yanzhu LIU, Yongxiu LI. Coordination-enhanced leaching of bastnaesite from mixed rare earth concentrates and comprehensive recycling of valuable elements[J]. Chinese Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, ;2026, 42(1): 141-151. doi: 10.11862/CJIC.20250049 shu

Coordination-enhanced leaching of bastnaesite from mixed rare earth concentrates and comprehensive recycling of valuable elements

Huifang XIAO ¹ ,
Xiaoqian HU ¹ ,
Xiaofan YE ¹ ,
Lihui LIU ¹ ,
Fen NIE ¹ ,
Yanrong DING ² ,
Ying MA ² ,
Yanzhu LIU ^1,, ,
Yongxiu LI ^1,,

1.
Institute of Rare Earths, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China
2.
State Key Laboratory of Baiyun Obo Rare Earth Resources Research and Comprehensive Utilization, Baotou, Inner Mongolia 014000, China

Corresponding author: Yanzhu LIU, yzliu@ncu.edu.cn Yongxiu LI, yxli@ncu.edu.cn
Received Date: 17 February 2025
Revised Date: 17 December 2025

Figures(9)

In this study, aluminum sulfate was used to enhance the leaching of bastnasite in mixed rare earth concentrate (MREC) by sulfuric acid, then triethyloctamine and N₁₉₂₃ were used to extract residual acid and rare earth elements in the leaching solution, sequentially to produce calcium sulfate and cryolite by-products and monazite concentrate. The results show that the strong coordination of Al with F not only strengthens the leaching but also eliminates the generation of HF, which is convenient for the separation and comprehensive recycling of rare earth (RE), F, and Al, and eliminates the environmental impact. For the 100 mesh MREC, the concentrate and RE leaching rates by a mix solution of 3.0 mol·L^-1 H₂SO₄ and 0.3 mol·L^-1 Al₂(SO₄)₃ with a liquid-solid ratio (the ratio of the volume of liquid to the mass of solid in mineral fluid) of 32 mL·g^-1 and a reaction of 135 ℃ and 200 r·min^-1 for 2 h reached 68.00% and 66.91%, respectively. The leaching rate of F^- and the decomposition rate of CaF₂ are 94.42% and 99.3%, respectively. After triethyloctanamine extracted most of the residual acid in the leaching solution, the RE was directly extracted with N₁₉₂₃, and the extraction rate was 97.38%. The RE in the organic phase was stripped by HCl with a stripping rate of 98.05%, and the ratio of Al to RE in the stripping solution was only 0.008 0. The F-Al complex in raffinate was transferred to cryolite by adding an external fluorine source to realize the recovery of F-Al resources.
- rare earth concentrate,
- F-Al coordination,
- enhanced leaching,
- comprehensive recovery
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