About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Rare Metal Extraction & Processing
|
| Presentation Title |
Separation and Purification of Rare Earth Elements Through Adsorption by Functionalized Low-Cost Materials |
| Author(s) |
Benjamin Schroeder, Michael Free, Prashant Sarswat |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Benjamin Schroeder |
| Abstract Scope |
The separation of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) through traditional means remains one of the primary barriers to meeting current market demands for REEs in critical sectors such as electric vehicles and defense technologies. We propose a new method of REE separation and purification which utilizes functionalized low-cost materials such as cellulose and other common substrates to adsorb dilute REEs in an aqueous solution. The substrate can be functionalized with molecules that exhibit ionic radii dependent adsorption behavior. We demonstrate that with carefully tuned chemistry, high purity lanthanides can be generated in only a few adsorption-desorption cycles from an initially dilute and mixed feed source. We aim to explore the mechanism underlying the selectivity of this material as well as ways that this can be further tuned to optimize metal purity from the process. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Extraction and Processing, Hydrometallurgy, Surface Modification and Coatings |