Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Bastnasite Ore and Separation of Heavy REEs and Light REEs by Solvent Extraction

Paper i proceeding, 2025

In this study, rare earth elements in bastnasite ore from Eskişehir, Turkey, were extracted by leaching using EG-FeCl3-based deep eutectic solvent together with the following solvent extraction. Leaching conditions such as temperature, FeCl3 molarity, solid–liquid ratio (S/L), time, and mixing speed were determined using Taguchi orthogonal (L32) method. About 62.704 wt.% of light REEs (La, Ce, Nd, Pr) were dissolved after the calcination of the ore using 1 M of FeCl3 at S/L ratio of 0.05, with 600 rpm of stirring rate for 16 h at 50 °C. Heavy REEs and light REEs were separated by solvent extraction. D2EHPA extracted Y and Th from the leachate sufficiently. The highest distribution ratio for both elements was 17.28 and 8.39, respectively. Following to extraction, 74% of Y has been stripped back to 2 M HNO3 solution.