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Dissolution of the Rare‐Earth Mineral Bastnaesite by Acidic Amide Ionic Liquid for Recovery of Critical Materials
Author(s) -
Freiderich John W.,
Stankovich Joseph J.,
Luo Huimin,
Dai Sheng,
Moyer Bruce A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
european journal of inorganic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1099-0682
pISSN - 1434-1948
DOI - 10.1002/ejic.201500509
Subject(s) - chemistry , ionic liquid , dissolution , rare earth , solubility , imide , lanthanide , amide , inorganic chemistry , ion , mineralogy , organic chemistry , catalysis
Rare‐earth elements provide the cornerstones to clean sustainable energy and modern technologies such as computers, communications, and transportation. As such, the recovery of rare earths (REs) from minerals such as bastnaesite remains important for modern times. As the light lanthanides (La–Nd) constitute the majority (typically >98.7 %) of the REs in bastnaesite with the heavy REs (Sm–Lu) contributing the remainder (approximately 1.3 %), an enrichment of heavier REs may serve as an effective means of assisting rare‐earth recovery. Such an extractive metallurgy process involving ionic liquids (ILs) leads to an enrichment of heavy REs by nearly an order of magnitude. The acidic IL N , N ‐dimethylacetamidium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (DMAH + NTf 2 – ) in the IL 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (BMIM + NTf 2 – ) dissolves froth flotation bastnaesite, synthetic bastnaesite analogues (RECO 3 F), RE 2 O 3 , and RE 2 (CO 3 ) 3 minerals. An overall reaction for the dissolution of bastnaesite is proposed for this IL system. This IL system may provide the initial stages of a greater RE separation scheme for bastnaesite froth flotation concentrates.