Separation of rare earth elements from sulfate leach liquor by heterocyclic nitrogen compound

Separation of rare earth elements by solvent extraction has actually been widely used in various fields from analytical chemistry to hydrometallurgy. A representative ore sample obtained from Kadabora Batholiths-Eastern Desert of Egypt, containing the multiple oxides rare earth minerals: Samarskite, Fergusonite, Betafite, and Pyrochlore, was subjected to sulfuric acid leaching. Different sets of equilibrium loading experiments were carried out on a bench scale for the extraction of rare earths (cerium and yttrium) from the sulfate leach liquor using 8,9-dihydro[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]quinazolin-6(7H)-one {TQ} dissolved in methylene chloride. Stripping was carried out by 20% sodium hydroxide. A rare earth cake was produced by oxalic acid precipitation. Its purity reached 87.3%.