With the development of advanced materials and technologies that utilize f-elements, the demand to improve ways of selectively obtaining the rare earth elements (REEs) in particular has become essential in our society. The main way in which these elements are acquired from the earth are by mining and involves long, cumbersome processes that produce large amounts of hazardous waste. This has inspired our efforts to enhance these separation processes that occur during mining to make them more efficient and safer for the environment. The research that is being conducted in this area also has potential to increase the versatility of f-elements, such as being able to sequester, recycle and reuse valuable lanthanide metals from electronics. A series of ligands employing three phenyl substituted carbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) groups connected through a trialkyl amine ligand capping scaffold has been prepared by our group for selective extraction of <i>f</i>-elements from aqueous solution. Previous work has revealed significant fluctuation in metal extraction selectivity based on variation in the liquid-liquid extraction parameters (i.e., stir time and ligand concentration). This study will further explore the variation of solvent being used which influences extracted complex solubility, as well as systematically changing the ligand concentration utilized in the extraction protocol.

Alteration of rare earth extraction protocol conditions: Toward enhanced lanthanide metal separations

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.