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US 11,845,670 B2Granted
Task-specific ionic liquids for selective separation and recovery of rare earth elements
AssigneeThe Curators of the University of Missouri
InventorsMostafa Khodakarami, Lana Alagha
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Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to novel functionalized ionic liquids (ILs) that are used, for example, for enhanced recovery and separation of rare earth elements from aqueous solutions. The liquids and processes disclosed herein lead to greater separation efficiency, increased stability of separation materials, increased selectivity, and a reduced amount of waste materials.
Claims6
A method of recovering rare earth elements, the method comprising:
- mixing an aqueous solution comprising a rare earth element with a non-aqueous solution comprising a functionalized ionic liquid, wherein the functionalized ionic liquid comprises a cationic component and an anionic component, and further wherein the cationic component and the anionic component of the functionalized ionic liquid each individually comprise an oxygen donating group;
- solvating the rare earth element with the functionalized ionic liquid;
- separating a non-aqueous phase comprising the rare earth element from the mixture;
- and
- recovering the rare earth element.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.