The IMRE Journal Volume 7 (2) 2013 2013. TU Bergakademie Freiberg http://tu-freiberg.de/fakultaet6/imre/ ProduProductionction Process and Recycling of RRareare Earth EElementslements Jan C. Bongaerts Abstract TU Bergakademie Freiberg Correspondance: Technological innovations resulted in manifold applications using rare Prof. Dr. Jan C. Bongaerts earths which lead to a dramatic increase in their demand. Rare earths are a TU Bergakademie Freberg relatively abundant group of 17 rare earth elements (REEs) including the Lessingstrasse 45. 15 lanthanide elements, scandium and yttrium. 09599 Freiberg Germany Given their relative abundance in the earth’s crust, however, they seldom e-mail : occur in concentrated forms in economically exploitable ore deposits. The
[email protected] production can be technically challenging and require s substantial and dedicated mineralogical, ch emical and processing expertise. Furthermore, Jiangxue Liu the chemical extraction processes have generated severe environmental problems. TU Bergakademie Freiberg The paper deals with the production process and the recycling of REEs. Correspondance: First, an introduction to rare earths, mineralogy and depo sits is presented. Jiangxue Liu Then, a description of the production process from mining to separation TU Bergakademie Freberg and the environmental risks during the process are given. Next, the Lessingstrasse 45. 09599 Freiberg recycling of REEs is covered. Germany e-mail :
[email protected] Keywords : Rare earths mining, processing, separation, recycling. Introduction Rare earth elements (REEs) include 15 lanthanide elements (Z = 57 through 71). Scandium (Z = 21) and yttrium (Z = 39) are considered REEs as they have similar chemical and physical properties. The lanthanides are commonly divided into the light rare earth elements (LREE) – lanthanum through to europium, and heavy rare earth elements (HREE) – gadolinium through to lutetium (Table 1).