Processes for the separation of rare earth elements and non-rare earth elements into individual high purity elements

A process for the separation of rare earth elements (REE) and non-rare earth elements into individual high purity elements, comprising:

• (a) providing a starting material comprising at least one rare earth element (REE) and at least one non-rare earth elements;
• (b) mixing the starting material in an acid or acid chloride solution, or adding the starting material to an acid or acid chloride solution, wherein the acid or acid chloride solution has greater than about 1 molarity chloride concentration, or between about 0.01 molarity and 10 molarity chloride concentration;
• (c) adding or loading the starting material-comprising acid or acid chloride solution of step (b) into or onto an anion exchange resin column, whereby any ferric tetrachloride anion (optionally a FeCl4−1 complex binds to the anion exchange resin) in the starting material-comprising acid chloride solution is retained on the anion exchange resin, and generating a ferric tetrachloride (FeCl4−1 complex) anion-free, cationic metal-comprising eluate,
• and optionally any zinc, thorium and/or uranium in the starting material-comprising acid chloride solution is also retained on the anion exchange resin;
• (d) adding or loading the ferric tetrachloride anion-free, cationic metal-comprising eluate of (c) into or onto a cationic exchange resin column, whereby REEs are retained on the cationic exchange resin;
• (e) passing low to high gradient acid eluting solutions over or through the cationic exchange resin column, wherein the passing comprises:
• (i) first passing an eluting solution having a low acid concentration of about 0.1 to 1 molarity, followed by an eluting solution of about 1 to 2 molarity, followed by an eluting solution of about 3 to 10 or more molarity, or
• (ii) passing an eluting solution over or through the cationic exchange resin column that changes over time from about 0.1 to 1 molarity, to about 1 to 2 molarity, to about 3 to 10 or more molarity, and
• at low acid concentration of about 1 molarity or less, a majority of or greater than 50%, or at least about 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90% or 95%, of monovalent and/or divalent cations are eluted off the cationic exchange resin column, and
• at acid concentrations of between about 1 to 2 molarity, a majority of or greater than 50%, or at least about 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90% or 95%, of trivalent cations (optionally aluminum cations) elute off the cationic exchange resin column, and
• at acid concentrations greater than about 3 or more molarity, a majority of or greater than 50%, or at least about 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90% or 95%, of the REEs elute off the cationic exchange resin column;
• and
• (f) collecting the eluted REEs.

A continuous ion chromatography (CIC) process for the separation of rare earth elements (REE) and non-rare earth elements into individual high purity elements, comprising:

• (a) providing a starting material comprising at least one rare earth element (REE) and at least one non-rare earth elements;
• (b) mixing the starting material in an acid or acid chloride solution, or adding the starting material to an acid or acid chloride solution, wherein the acid or acid chloride solution has greater than about 1 molarity chloride concentration, or between about 0.1 molarity and 10 molarity chloride concentration;
• (c) adding or loading the starting material-comprising acid or acid chloride solution of step (b) into or onto a continuous ion chromatography (CIC) column comprising a strong cation (optionally Dowex 650C™ or Purolite SSTC60™ or equivalents) or strong anion (optionally Dowex 1™, Amberlite HPR550 OH™) resin, whereby the REEs are retained on the CIC column;
• (d) adding to or passing through the CIC column of (c) an eluting solution comprising a chelating material, thereby eluting the REEs off the CIC column;
• and
• (f) collecting the eluted REEs.