The invention relates to a method for recovering precious metals from electronic waste utilising biometallurgical techniques. In one aspect, a method of recovering one or more target metals from electronic waste, includes (a) removing at least a portion of non-target material from the electronic waste or grinding to a preselected size particle to give pre-processed electronic waste; (b) contacting the pre-processed electronic waste with a lixiviant such that at least a portion of the target metal(s) dissolve into the lixiviant to produce a pregnant solution; (c) contacting a microorganism with the pregnant solution such that at least a portion of the target metal(s) ions biosorb to the microorganism wherein the microorganism becomes metal laden and the pregnant solution becomes barren; (d) substantially separating the metal laden microorganism from the barren solution; and (e) recovery of the target metal(s) from the metal laden microorganism.

The invention relates to hydrometallurgical method for recovering lithium and one or more transition metals from spent lithium ion batteries, comprising: treating an electrode material of the batteries in an alkaline solution to dissolve lithium in said solution; separating from the alkaline solution a solid phase consisting of lithium-depleted electrode material; recovering lithium from said alkaline solution; leaching the lithium-depleted electrode material with an acid leach solution to dissolve one or more transition metals of the electrode material in the leach solution; separating insoluble material, if present, from the leach solution to obtain metal-bearing aqueous solution and isolating one or more transition metal(s) and optionally the remainder of the lithium from said metal-bearing aqueous solution.

A method for separating substantially pure rare earth metals and other metals from a mixed source, including putting a plurality of rare earth metals and other metals into solution to define a solution containing a plurality of respective metal ions, in at least one chromatographic column, selectively capturing ions of each respective metal with a respective ligand to define a plurality of respective discrete bands, and respectively eluting captured ions of respective metal from each respective band of the at least one chromatographic column to yield a plurality of purified solutions, each respective purified solution having a high concentration of a respective metal. The bands may either be stationary with respect to the columns, or may move through the columns.

The present invention is a method for treating an alloy, by which a solution that contains nickel and/or cobalt is obtained from an alloy that contains copper, zinc, and nickel and/or cobalt, said method comprising: a leaching process wherein a leachate is obtained by subjecting the alloy to a leaching treatment by means of an acid in the coexistence of a sulfurizing agent; a reduction process wherein the leachate is subjected to a reduction treatment with use of a reducing agent; and an ion exchanging process wherein a solution that contains nickel and/or cobalt is obtained by bringing a solution, which has been obtained in the reduction process, into contact with an amino phosphoric acid-based chelate resin, thereby having zinc adsorbed on the amino phosphoric acid-based chelate resin.

Processing schemes for the extraction and/or separation of rare earth elements (REEs) from rare earth containing products such as rare earth mineral ore bodies and intermediate products derived from rare earth mineral ore bodies. The processing schemes may be applied independently or in various combinations to produce end-products that have a very high purity with respect to REEs, including high value critical REEs. The processes may include acid digestion, formation of rare earth oxalate compounds, metathesizing of rare earth oxalate compounds, selective precipitation and/or solvent extraction to form the high purity REE end products.

Processing schemes for the extraction and/or separation of rare earth elements (REEs) from rare earth containing products such as rare earth mineral ore bodies and intermediate products derived from rare earth mineral ore bodies. The processing schemes may be applied independently or in various combinations to produce end-products that have a very high purity with respect to REEs, including high value critical REEs. The processes may include acid digestion, formation of rare earth oxalate compounds, metathesizing of rare earth oxalate compounds, selective precipitation and/or solvent extraction to form the high purity REE end products.

This invention has an object to provide a method for producing a beryllium solution, the method being novel and having high energy efficiency. The method (M10) for producing a beryllium solution includes a main heating step (S13) of dielectrically heating an acidic solution containing a starting material so as to generate a beryllium solution, the starting material being beryllium or a substance containing beryllium.

A method for extracting rare earth elements (REEs) from a REE hyperaccumulator, including: subjecting the REE hyperaccumulator to microwave-assisted digestion to obtain a REE extract; subjecting the REE extract to absorption with a chelating resin and elution to obtain a purified REE solution; and subjecting the purified REE solution to precipitation and calcination to obtain high-purity rare earth compound.

A method for extracting rare earth elements (REEs) from a REE hyperaccumulator, including: subjecting the REE hyperaccumulator to microwave-assisted digestion to obtain a REE extract; subjecting the REE extract to absorption with a chelating resin and elution to obtain a purified REE solution; and subjecting the purified REE solution to precipitation and calcination to obtain high-purity rare earth compound.

The present application provides a method for recovering metal from metal-containing material by leaching, the method comprising providing aqueous solution containing leaching agent precursor, providing one or more source(s) of external energy comprising a source of electric current connected to one or more non-metallic electrode(s) comprising carbon material(s) selected from graphite, graphene and derivatives thereof, and carbon nanomaterial(s) selected from carbon nanofibers, carbon nanotubes and carbon nanobuds, treating the aqueous solution with the external energy, which is electric current providing electrochemical reactions, to form hydrogen peroxide from oxygen in the aqueous solution, reacting the leaching agent precursor with the formed hydrogen peroxide to form a leaching agent and to obtain a leaching solution, providing metal-containing material, reacting the metal-containing material with the leaching solution to obtain soluble metal complexes, and recovering the soluble metal complexes. The present application also discloses a device for recovering metal from metal-containing material by leaching.