title: Recycling rare earth elements from industrial wastewater with flowerlike nano-Mg(OH)(2).
abstract: Treatment of wastewater containing low-concentration yet highly-expensive rare earth elements (REEs) is one of the vital issues in the REEs separation and refining industry. In this work, the interaction and related mechanism between self-supported flowerlike nano-Mg(OH)2 and low-concentration REEs wastewater were investigated. More than 99% REEs were successfully taken up by nano-Mg(OH)2. Further analysis revealed that the REEs could be collected on the surface of Mg(OH)2 as metal hydroxide nanoparticles (<5 nm). An ion-exchange model was proposed as a critical factor for both guaranteeing the reaction speed and maintaining the self-supported structure of the materials. In addition, a method was developed to further separate the immobilized REEs and the residual magnesium hydroxide by varying the solution pH. In a pilot-scale experiment, the REEs from practical wastewater were immobilized effectively at a high flow rate. We anticipate this work can provide a good example for the recycling of valuable REEs in practical industrial applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Fuzhou, Fujian, 350002 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Chaoran
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zanyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhicheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yangping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Zhang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions / Q000737:chemistry; D008276:Magnesium Hydroxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology; D059027:Recycling; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D008276:Magnesium Hydroxide; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D062065:Wastewater