When coal is combusted, such as in the process of generating electricity, fly ash is produced in abundant quantities. Methods and systems are provided for extracting materials, such as rare earth elements critical for national security or nuclear power generation, from fly ash. A method of processing fly ash includes installing a collection system in a fly ash pond. The method further includes applying water to the top surface of the fly ash pond, such that the water leaches through fly ash and into the collection system. The leached water is processed to remove materials, such as rare earth elements. Systems are also provided.

When coal is combusted, such as in the process of generating electricity, fly ash is produced in abundant quantities. Methods and systems are provided for extracting materials, such as rare earth elements critical for national security or nuclear power generation, from fly ash. A method of processing fly ash includes installing a collection system in a fly ash pond. The method further includes applying water to the top surface of the fly ash pond, such that the water leaches through fly ash and into the collection system. The leached water is processed to remove materials, such as rare earth elements. Systems are also provided.

An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method to extract components from a metal-containing material, forming a first multicomponent system comprising an ionic liquid and a first aqueous component, wherein the first aqueous component and the ionic liquid form an immiscible mixture when the first multicomponent system is at a temperature below a critical temperature, contacting a metal-containing material with the first multicomponent system, adjusting the temperature of the first multicomponent system above the first critical temperature to form a miscible mixture with the ionic liquid and the first aqueous component, reverting the temperature of the first multicomponent system below the critical temperature to form an immiscible mixture with the ionic liquid and the first aqueous component, and isolating the ionic liquid from the first aqueous component and the metal-containing material, wherein the ionic liquid comprises one or more metals from the metal-containing material.

An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method to extract components from a metal-containing material, forming a first multicomponent system comprising an ionic liquid and a first aqueous component, wherein the first aqueous component and the ionic liquid form an immiscible mixture when the first multicomponent system is at a temperature below a critical temperature, contacting a metal-containing material with the first multicomponent system, adjusting the temperature of the first multicomponent system above the first critical temperature to form a miscible mixture with the ionic liquid and the first aqueous component, reverting the temperature of the first multicomponent system below the critical temperature to form an immiscible mixture with the ionic liquid and the first aqueous component, and isolating the ionic liquid from the first aqueous component and the metal-containing material, wherein the ionic liquid comprises one or more metals from the metal-containing material.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the recovery and extraction of rare earth elements. More specifically, embodiments of the disclosure relate to methods for separating rare earth elements from coal, coal by-product(s), and/or coal-derived product(s). In an embodiment, a method of removing rare earth elements from a coal-derived product is provided. The method generally includes introducing supercritical CO.sub.2 to the coal ash to form a first mixture, introducing a first acid to the first mixture to form a second mixture, and removing a first composition from the second mixture, the first composition comprising the one or more rare earth elements.

The invention relates to the field of comprehensive recovery of valuable elements such as bromine, base metal and precious metal from incineration ash, especially relates to a method for enriching precious metals from printed circuit board incineration ash by bath smelting-chlorination circulation process. The process mainly comprises pretreatment of the printed circuit board Incineration ash and circulation-chlorination enrichment process for precious metals. The crude copper, crude zinc sulfate, bromine, lead chloride and precious metal enriched slag are obtained. Compared with the traditional process, it realizes the cycle enrichment of precious metals as well as avoids the loss of valuable metals and secondary pollution caused by tail liquid discharge.

The invention relates to the field of comprehensive recovery of valuable elements such as bromine, base metal and precious metal from incineration ash, especially relates to a method for enriching precious metals from printed circuit board incineration ash by bath smelting-chlorination circulation process. The process mainly comprises pretreatment of the printed circuit board Incineration ash and circulation-chlorination enrichment process for precious metals. The crude copper, crude zinc sulfate, bromine, lead chloride and precious metal enriched slag are obtained. Compared with the traditional process, it realizes the cycle enrichment of precious metals as well as avoids the loss of valuable metals and secondary pollution caused by tail liquid discharge.

A combustion ash handling method of handling combustion ash discharged from a combustion furnace that combusts a petroleum-based fuel includes: separating the combustion ash into a heavy component and a light component by a dry-type separation technique; feeding the light component to the combustion furnace as a fuel; and recovering the heavy component. A metal such as vanadium is separated and extracted from the heavy component of the combustion ash.

The present invention is a CO.sub.2 based hydrometallurgical multistage reaction and separation system comprising: a pre-washing device configured to fully mix the feedstock, such as industrial solid waste, mineral and mine tailings with auxiliary reagents and water at specific ratio, a reactor configured to treat the washed slurry with CO.sub.2 bubbling and discharge the treated slurry to the next stage, multistage separators configured to separate solid particles from treated slurry and recycle the unreacted solids back into the pre-washing device, a by-product preparation device configured to generate calcium and magnesium based products from filtrate containing target elements, a water recirculating device configured to recycle the remaining liquor back to the system. The present invention ensures the whole system is able to continuously and consistently react at maximum capacity through continuous slurry feeding and CO.sub.2 bubbling into the reactors which also enables multistage circulating reaction.

An object of the present invention is to recover a minor metal and/or rare-earth metal. The present invention provides a method for recovering a minor metal and/or rare-earth metal from a post-chlorination residue in titanium smelting. The minor metal and/or rare-earth metal is one or more metal selected from the group consisting of Sc, V, Nb, Zr, Y, La, Ce, Pr, and Nd.