Publication: Rare earth element (ree) extractionvia solvent extraction method from rare earth oxide
Loading...
Date
2025-08-08
Authors
Siti Nur Aisyah binti Abdullah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are essential to modern technologies such as electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, electronics, and high-performance magnets. Due to their growing demand and limited natural availability, efficient extraction and recovery methods are essential. The aim of this study is to characterize the REE and chemical composition of rare earth oxide and to optimize the solvent extraction parameters using a systematic approach based on Design of Experiments (DOE), focusing on type of extractant (DEHPA and Synergistic (DEHPA + Cyanex - 572)), pH of the solution (1 and 2) and the concentration of the extractant (10%, 15%, 20%). Rare earth oxalate (REOx) was calcined at 850ºC for 120 minutes to form rare earth oxide (REO) and both pre- and post-calcination samples were analysed using XRF and ICP-MS. DOE was applied using Minitab, with a full factorial design of 10 experimental runs combining the parameters at different levels. For each experimental run, both aqueous solution from extraction and stripping process were sent for ICP- OES analysis to quantify the REE concentration, from which extraction efficiency was calculated. Post- calcination analysis revealed an increase in REE concentrations, particularly Yttrium (1,524,281.07 ppm), Neodymium (293,265.57 ppm), and
Lanthanum (185,850.51 ppm). The factorial analysis showed that extractant type had the greatest impact, followed by pH. The result indicates that the usage of DEHPA and synergistic at lower pH leads to higher extraction efficiency. The highest extraction efficiency obtained was 75.31% by using 20% DEHPA at pH 1.