气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): A green and efficient technology to recover rare earth elements from weathering crusts

CCPortal

DOI	10.1038/s41893-022-00989-3
	A green and efficient technology to recover rare earth elements from weathering crusts
	Wang, Gaofeng; Xu, Jie; Ran, Lingyu; Zhu, Runliang; Ling, Bowen; Liang, Xiaoliang; Kang, Shichang; Wang, Yuanyuan; Wei, Jingming; Ma, Lingya; Zhuang, Yanfeng; Zhu, Jianxi; He, Hongping
发表日期	2023
ISSN	2398-9629
起始页码	81
结束页码	+
卷号	6 期号:1 页码:15
英文摘要	Heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) such as Gd-Lu, Sc and Y are irreplaceable metals for a number of critical (including clean) technologies, but they are scarce. Ion-adsorption deposits, which form within weathering crusts, supply more than 95% of the global HREE demand. However, these deposits are currently mined via ammonium-salt-based leaching techniques that are responsible for severe environmental damage and show low recovery efficiency. As a result, the adoption of such techniques is restricted for REE mining, further exacerbating REE scarcity, which in turn could lead to supply chain disruptions. Here we report the design of an innovative REE mining technique, electrokinetic mining (EKM), which enables green, efficient and selective recovery of REEs from weathering crusts. Its feasibility is demonstrated via bench-scale, scaled-up and on-site field experiments. Compared with conventional techniques, EKM achieves similar to 2.6 times higher recovery efficiency, an similar to 80% decrease in leaching agent usage and a similar to 70% reduction in metallic impurities in the obtained REEs. As an additional benefit, the results point to an autonomous purification mechanism for REE enrichment, wherein the separation process is based on the mobility and reactivity diversity between REEs and metallic impurities. Overall, the evidence presented suggests that EKM is a viable mining technique, revealing new paths for the sustainable harvesting of natural resources.
学科领域	Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Studies
语种	英语
WOS研究方向	Science & Technology - Other Topics ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
WOS记录号	WOS:000876858600002
来源期刊	NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/272719
作者单位	Chinese Academy of Sciences; Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, CAS; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, CAS; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Mechanics, CAS; Wuhan University
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Wang, Gaofeng,Xu, Jie,Ran, Lingyu,et al. A green and efficient technology to recover rare earth elements from weathering crusts[J],2023,6(1):15.
APA	Wang, Gaofeng.,Xu, Jie.,Ran, Lingyu.,Zhu, Runliang.,Ling, Bowen.,...&He, Hongping.(2023).A green and efficient technology to recover rare earth elements from weathering crusts.NATURE SUSTAINABILITY,6(1),15.
MLA	Wang, Gaofeng,et al."A green and efficient technology to recover rare earth elements from weathering crusts".NATURE SUSTAINABILITY 6.1(2023):15.