Dailey and 5 co-authors reported in 2022 that:
- Rare earth elements (REEs) (i.e., scandium, yttrium, lanthanoids) have significant value for energy infrastructure, decarbonization, and defense technologies.
- Chemical decomposition of mineral structures to release constituent elements is a key step in REE-bearing mineral processing [1].
- While the sulfuric acid bake is well studied for economic REE-bearing minerals (e.g., monazite, xenotime, bastnasite), comprehensive assessment has not been reported for allanite REE concentrates.
The goal of this research was to assess the impact of key parameters in sulfuric acid baking on REE solubilization and compare them to direct leaching for an allanite-bearing ore.
Preliminary investigation into sulfuric acid baking of allanite REE-bearing ore revealed:
• TREE recovery is directly proportional to time, but fast leaching may be advantageous.
• TREE recovery is inversely proportional to acid baking temperature.
• TREE recovery is inversely proportional to particle size.
• Direct leaching has better TREE recovery than acid baking.
• Leach temperature is directly proportional to leachate concentrations for acid baking.
• High TREE recoveries for direct leached coarse material further supports large scale, low-cost process.
• Further research questions need to be addressed for allanite bearing ores:
• How does material types (e.g., surface, concentrate) impact recovery?
• How does percent solids in leaching affect recovery?
• How does leach temperature affect acid baking and direct leaching recovery?
Original working URL: https://www.i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/ChaurasiaC-Jr.GSIVol.96December2020pp.557-564.pdf
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