Project number
16093
Organization
UA Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Academic year
2016-2017
The leaching solution used in mines for copper extraction contains rare earth elements. The objective of this project is to design an industrial scale-up of a process to selectively recover and concentrate rare earth elements yttrium and neodymium from a copper pregnant leach solution.
A laboratory-scale version of this process has been developed at the University of Arizona by researchers in the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering. This process incorporates a slip-and-recycle stream into the current copper-extraction process to maximize cost-effectiveness and sustainability.
This design includes a feasibility study of multiple rare earth processing methods, such as solvent extraction and ion exchange. The resulting high-purity neodymium and yttrium metals could help meet growing global demand for rare earth minerals.
A laboratory-scale version of this process has been developed at the University of Arizona by researchers in the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering. This process incorporates a slip-and-recycle stream into the current copper-extraction process to maximize cost-effectiveness and sustainability.
This design includes a feasibility study of multiple rare earth processing methods, such as solvent extraction and ion exchange. The resulting high-purity neodymium and yttrium metals could help meet growing global demand for rare earth minerals.