Bench scale studies on separation of rare earths by ion exchange

The method of ion exchange was applied to the separation of mixtures of rare earth oxides into the pure components. The method consists of eluting a band of mixed rare earths adsorbed on a cation-exchange resin through a second cation-exchange bed in the copperII state. The eluent consists of an ammonia buffered solution of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid. The mixed rare earth oxide used as testing material was obtained from the digestion of Thai monazite. The amounts varied from 1, 5 to 50 grams. The purity of the rare earth fractions were analyzed either by neutron activation of X-ray fluorescence. The Cu.EDTA was recovered by the addition of lime. It was found that gram quantities of pure rare earths could be obtained by this method