The invention relates to a material and its method for rapidly eluting ammonium ions and soluble metal cations in an ionic rare earth ore leaching site, which comprises the following steps: 1) Ferrous sulfate is dissolved in water as an eluant; 2) Take the soil sample from the closed leaching site of ionic rare earth ore to make an eluting column, use the above-mentioned eluent to elute, more than 95% water-soluble and exchangeable ammonium ions in the soil sample are eluted, while more than 90% of the residual rare earths in the soil sample are exchanged into the eluent, which can quickly achieve the purpose of eluting ammonium ions in the leaching site and recovering the residual rare earths, and is beneficial to the soil remediation for the leaching site.

The invention relates to a material and its method for rapidly eluting ammonium ions and soluble metal cations in an ionic rare earth ore leaching site, which comprises the following steps: 1) Ferrous sulfate is dissolved in water as an eluant; 2) Take the soil sample from the closed leaching site of ionic rare earth ore to make an eluting column, use the above-mentioned eluent to elute, more than 95% water-soluble and exchangeable ammonium ions in the soil sample are eluted, while more than 90% of the residual rare earths in the soil sample are exchanged into the eluent, which can quickly achieve the purpose of eluting ammonium ions in the leaching site and recovering the residual rare earths, and is beneficial to the soil remediation for the leaching site.

The present invention relates to a method for recovering a rare metal salt, the method including: an acid treatment step of obtaining a rare metal-containing acidic aqueous solution by bringing a material including a monovalent rare metal and a polyvalent rare metal into contact with an acidic aqueous solution; a separation step of obtaining permeated water including the monovalent rare metal and non-permeated water including the polyvalent rare metal from the rare metal-containing acidic aqueous solution by using a nanofiltration membrane satisfying the condition (1); and a concentration step of obtaining non-permeated water having a higher concentration of the monovalent rare metal and permeated water having a lower concentration of the monovalent rare metal than that of the permeated water in the separation step, by using a reverse osmosis membrane.

A physical and chemical method is provided for de-mixing (e.g. extracting, separating, purifying and/or enriching) the metal constituents of an alloy or mixed material into different droplet or solid particle products that are highly enriched in the respective phases of the metal. The method involves for instance but is not limited to, shearing, separating and segregating metallic droplets and particles in a carrier fluid to form other droplets or particles that are each separately highly enriched in one of some, if not of all, of the constituent phases of the alloy or mixed material.

The present application is generally directed to separation and recovery of rare earths using biomass, liposomes, and/or other materials. In some embodiments, a composition comprising rare earths is exposed to biomass, where some of the rare earths are transferred to the biomass, e.g., via absorption. The composition may then be separated from the biomass. A solution may be exposed to the biomass thereby enriching the solution in one or more rare earths, relative to other rare earths in the biomass. The solution and the biomass may then be separated, and the rare earths recovered from the solution. In some cases, this process may be repeated with different solutions, which may result in different solutions enriched in various rare earths. Similar processes may be used to separate the rare earths from thorium and uranium. Liposomes may be used instead of and/or in addition to biomass.

The present application is generally directed to separation and recovery of rare earths using biomass, liposomes, and/or other materials. In some embodiments, a composition comprising rare earths is exposed to biomass, where some of the rare earths are transferred to the biomass, e.g., via absorption. The composition may then be separated from the biomass. A solution may be exposed to the biomass thereby enriching the solution in one or more rare earths, relative to other rare earths in the biomass. The solution and the biomass may then be separated, and the rare earths recovered from the solution. In some cases, this process may be repeated with different solutions, which may result in different solutions enriched in various rare earths. Similar processes may be used to separate the rare earths from thorium and uranium. Liposomes may be used instead of and/or in addition to biomass.

Disclosed is a method and a device for retrieving, from an object A, elements G present in a matrix M, the method including at least the following steps: bringing said abject A into contact with a dense fluid Fd with a molar mass greater than 2 g mol.sup.−1 under temperature T.sub.1 and pressure P.sub.1 conditions suitable for transforming the intergranular phase and for releasing the elements G, modifying the temperature T.sub.2 and/or pressure P.sub.2 values to stop the reaction transforming the intergranular phase, and recovering the elements G separated front the matrix M.

Disclosed is a method and a device for retrieving, from an object A, elements G present in a matrix M, the method including at least the following steps: bringing said abject A into contact with a dense fluid Fd with a molar mass greater than 2 g mol.sup.−1 under temperature T.sub.1 and pressure P.sub.1 conditions suitable for transforming the intergranular phase and for releasing the elements G, modifying the temperature T.sub.2 and/or pressure P.sub.2 values to stop the reaction transforming the intergranular phase, and recovering the elements G separated front the matrix M.

A system for treating infectious waste is provided that employs a medical waste handling and shredding sub-system that feeds partially processed waste to an oxidizer to eliminate potential airborne infectious waste prior to transforming the medical waste into useful co-products. Medical waste is transformed into value added products including hydrocarbon based gases, hydrocarbon-based liquids, carbonized material, and recovered precious metals and rare earth materials in a system having as its transformative element an anerobic, negative pressure, or carbonization system. With medical waste as a feedstock for the production of valuable products, an economically viable and environmentally more responsible alternative to traditional methods of medical waste treatment is realized.

Despite the abundance of scandium, its commercial applications continue to be limited by the absence of reliable, secure, stable and long-term production. The subject-matter disclosed herein provides for a method for extracting Rare Earth Elements (REE), scandium and/or Rare-Earth Oxides (REO) from ore and mineral concentrates, the method comprising: providing Rare Earth Elements (REE) and/or scandium bearing feedstock; a high-pressure caustic (HPC) leaching step, comprising leaching the feedstock in an alkali solution at a first temperature for a target period of time and at a given pressure to produce a leachate slurry; extracting a solid residue from the leachate slurry; leaching of the solid residue in a mineral acid to form a primary leach solution; extracting scandium and/or REE from the primary leach solution; and/or precipitating REE remaining in the raffinate to form a mixed REE-carbonate to thereby facilitate the extraction of REO.