IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i15p9682-d881703.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimizing Leaching of Rare Earth Elements from Red Mud and Spent Fluorescent Lamp Phosphors Using Levulinic Acid

Author

Listed:
  • Tao Jiang

    (Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA)

  • Sarabjot Singh

    (College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Albany, NY 12203, USA)

  • Kathleen A. Dunn

    (College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Albany, NY 12203, USA)

  • Yanna Liang

    (Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, USA)

Abstract

Although various hydrometallurgical and solvometallurgical efforts have been made to extract REEs from end-of-life (EoL) products and waste, a systematic and statistical analysis of the impacts of leaching parameters to optimize the leaching process using organic acids is necessary, but lacking in the literature. This study employed the response surface methodology to develop mathematical models for optimal leaching by levulinic acid (LevA) of REEs in two waste materials, namely red mud and spent fluorescent lamp phosphors. The established models exhibited excellent statistical properties, in terms of significance, fitting, prediction, and error distribution. For red mud, the optimal conditions of liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S; v / w ) of 40, temperature of 70 °C, and duration of 60 h led to 100% leaching of REEs excluding Sc. At the same L/S and temperature, >98.7% of REEs were leached from fluorescent phosphors after 96 h. The SEM–EDS analysis of the waste materials revealed and confirmed morphological and compositional changes after leaching under the optimal conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Tao Jiang & Sarabjot Singh & Kathleen A. Dunn & Yanna Liang, 2022. "Optimizing Leaching of Rare Earth Elements from Red Mud and Spent Fluorescent Lamp Phosphors Using Levulinic Acid," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9682-:d:881703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9682/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9682/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mancheri, Nabeel A., 2015. "World trade in rare earths, Chinese export restrictions, and implications," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P2), pages 262-271.
    2. Opare, Emmanuel Ohene & Struhs, Ethan & Mirkouei, Amin, 2021. "A comparative state-of-technology review and future directions for rare earth element separation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    3. Hongbo Du, & Deng, Fang & Kommalapati, Raghava R. & Amarasekara, Ananda S., 2020. "Iron based catalysts in biomass processing," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hu, Xiaoqian & Sun, Boxue & Wang, Chao & Lim, Ming K. & Wang, Peng & Geng, Xinyi & Yao, Cuiyou & Chen, Wei-Qiang, 2023. "Impacts of China’s exports decline in rare earth primary materials from a trade network-based perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Ge, Jianping & Lei, Yalin, 2018. "Resource tax on rare earths in China: Policy evolution and market responses," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 291-297.
    3. Kumar, Anil & Shemi, Alan & Chipise, Liberty & Moodley, Sanchia & Yah, Clarence S. & Ndlovu, Sehliselo, 2023. "Can microbial Bio-CN be a sustainable alternative to the chemical cyanidation of precious metals? An update and way forward," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    4. Madaleno, Mara & Taskin, Dilvin & Dogan, Eyup & Tzeremes, Panayiotis, 2023. "A dynamic connectedness analysis between rare earth prices and renewable energy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    5. Gao, Wang & Wei, Jiajia & Zhang, Hongwei & Zhang, Haizhen, 2024. "The higher-order moments connectedness between rare earth and clean energy markets and the role of geopolitical risk:New insights from a TVP-VAR framework," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    6. Zhang, Hongwei & Wang, Xinyi & Tang, Jing & Guo, Yaoqi, 2022. "The impact of international rare earth trade competition on global value chain upgrading from the industrial chain perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Iulia Dolganova & Vanessa Bach & Anne Rödl & Martin Kaltschmitt & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2022. "Assessment of Critical Resource Use in Aircraft Manufacturing," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1193-1212, September.
    8. Rini Novrianti Sutardjo Tui & Tsuyoshi Adachi, 2021. "An input - output approach in analyzing Indonesia’s mineral export policy," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 34(1), pages 105-112, April.
    9. Shuai, Jing & Peng, Xinjie & Zhao, Yujia & Wang, Yilan & Xu, Wei & Cheng, Jinhua & Lu, Yang & Wang, Jingjin, 2022. "A dynamic evaluation on the international competitiveness of China's rare earth products: An industrial chain and tech-innovation perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Xia, Qifan & Du, Debin & Cao, Wanpeng & Li, Xiya, 2023. "Who is the core? Reveal the heterogeneity of global rare earth trade structure from the perspective of industrial chain," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    11. Li, George Yunxiong & Ascani, Andrea & Iammarino, Simona, 2024. "The material basis of modern technologies. A case study on rare metals," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    12. Hau, Liya & Zhu, Huiming & Yu, Yang & Yu, Dongwei, 2022. "Time-frequency coherence and quantile causality between trade policy uncertainty and rare earth prices: Evidence from China and the US," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Hou, Wenyu & Liu, Huifang & Wang, Hui & Wu, Fengyang, 2018. "Structure and patterns of the international rare earths trade: A complex network analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 133-142.
    14. Yufeng Chen & Biao Zheng, 2019. "What Happens after the Rare Earth Crisis: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-26, March.
    15. Luisito Bertinelli & Stéphane Poncin & Benteng Zou, 2019. "The War of Rare Earth Elements: A Dynamic Game Approach," DEM Discussion Paper Series 19-11, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    16. Depraiter, Lisa & Goutte, Stephane, 2023. "The role and challenges of rare earths in the energy transition," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    17. Guo, Qing & Wu, Yanqing, 2024. "Assessing China's rare earth supply security," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    18. Fan, John Hua & Omura, Akihiro & Roca, Eduardo, 2023. "Geopolitics and rare earth metals," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    19. de Oliveira, R.P. & Benvenuti, J. & Espinosa, D.C.R., 2021. "A review of the current progress in recycling technologies for gallium and rare earth elements from light-emitting diodes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    20. Zhang, Hui-min & Feng, Tian-tian & Yang, Yi-sheng, 2022. "Influencing factors and critical path of inter-sector embodied heavy rare earth consumption in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:15:p:9682-:d:881703. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.