Separation and Recovery of Associated Rare Earths from the Zhijin Phosphorite Using Hydrochloric Acid

Abstract The separation and extraction of associated rare earths from the Zhijin phosphorite mine is of great interest. Based on previous studies, the hydrolysis of phosphate ore using hydrochloric acid was systematically studied through extensive testing. Experiments were conducted to separate and recover the rare earths from the hydrolysis solution. Kinetic studies on the acidolysis of phosphorite using hydrochloric acid show that the use of hydrochloric acid in the acidolysis of phosphorite is mainly controlled by a chemical reaction and is also a diffusion-controlled reaction. When 210 L of HCL per 100 kg of phosphorite was used at 30 °C for 360 min, 96.1% of the P 2 O 5 and 95.0% of the rare earths are leached from the phosphorite. After defluorination and purification, the pH of the phosphate-acid solution is adjusted to 2.1 using sodium hydroxide, and a rare earth concentrate with rare earth content of 1.76 wt% is obtained; i.e., 90.1% of the rare earths are recovered. The rare earth content is increased to more than 5 wt% through multiple enrichment processes, with a total yield of 59.5%.