(763h) Froth Flotation Enrichment of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from Different Feedstocks

Flotation is an aqueous, efficient, inexpensive, and well-developed commercial technology that has been widely applied in a variety of industrial processes, including mineral processing. The flotation process first generates gas bubbles within a solid-liquid or liquid-liquid suspension. The gas bubbles then attach to solid particles or immiscible liquid droplets and rise to top of the liquid surface. The floated solid particles or immiscible liquid droplets finally are skimmed off to achieve the separation. As particles/immiscible droplets are hydrophobic, they attach easily to gas bubbles and can be separated by the flotation technology.

The effectiveness of surfactants, i.e., frother, depressant, and collector, can strongly influence the flotation process, including the enrichment of rare earth elements (REEs) from coal, coal by-products or fly ashes. The properties of particle size, temperature, and pH will also affect REE enrichment. Here, we report the performance of different chemicals/process parameters for the froth flotation of different feeds in the mechanic agitated flotation cell. Different types of frothers and collectors were studied at varying flotation conditions for REE enrichment. The discussion will focus on the performance of these surfactants and the REE enrichment efficiency at these different conditions.