Issue 46/2012 - Major breakthrough in rare earth element separation technology

A major breakthrough has been made in the separation technology of rare earth elements

As a key technology in the field of rare earths, the separation of rare earth elements has always been a key difficulty in the industry
.
The rare earth centrifugal extraction equipment and process technology project jointly completed by Baotou Expo Extraction Equipment Co.
, Ltd.
, Baotou Rare Earth Research Institute and Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare Earth (Group) High-tech Co.
, Ltd.
has recently successfully passed the appraisal of achievements organized by the China Rare Earth Industry Association and the China Rare Earth Society in Beijing, marking a major breakthrough
in China's rare earth extraction and separation equipment and process technology.

Relying on this technology, the centrifugal extraction and separation production line with an annual processing of 5,000 tons of rare earths of carbonate and a rare earth recovery production line with an annual processing of 3,000 tons of NdFeB waste have been industrialized to provide customers with a number of high-quality products
such as oxides, fluorides and carbonates of lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium and dysprosium.
After nearly three years of continuous operation, the new plant production line has confirmed the reliability of
the process and equipment.

Over the years, China's rare earth separation has been using box tank extraction and separation technology, resource recovery rate and recycling level is difficult to improve, the whole production line of the project is based on independent intellectual property rights CTL-500FB centrifugal extractor and digital flow system equipment as the core, using automatic control and its full-function operation software and supporting facilities to complete the extraction and separation
of various rare earth raw materials 。 The extraction process and equipment have the advantages of high efficiency, good stability, fast separation speed and high degree of automation, compared with the box extractor commonly used in the rare earth industry, it has the characteristics of small pressure groove, less floor space and high efficiency, and the indicators have reached the international advanced level
.
(Liu Yan)