Environmentally friendly methods for selective leaching of heavy rare earth elements from weathered crust leached rare earth ores

By employing a microbial leaching method that precisely controls the concentrations of carbon and nitrogen sources, the problems of poor selectivity in rare earth leaching and ammonia nitrogen pollution have been solved. This method achieves selective leaching of heavy rare earth elements and low ammonia nitrogen emissions, resulting in significant economic and environmental benefits.

CN122357960APending Publication Date: 2026-07-10UNIV OF SCI & TECH OF CHINA
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Patent Information

Authority / Receiving Office
CN Β· China
Patent Type
Applications(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
UNIV OF SCI & TECH OF CHINA
Filing Date
2026-06-09
Publication Date
2026-07-10

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

Existing chemical leaching processes result in poor selectivity for rare earth leaching and severe ammonia nitrogen pollution. Biological leaching methods are difficult to achieve selective leaching of heavy rare earths and fail to meet ammonia nitrogen emission standards.

Method used

By precisely controlling the concentrations of carbon and nitrogen sources in the leaching system, specific microorganisms are used for leaching to promote the complexation of heavy rare earth elements with biological organic molecules, thereby achieving selective leaching of heavy rare earth elements. Furthermore, the carbon source drives bacteria to reduce the concentration of ammonia nitrogen.

Benefits of technology

It achieves selective leaching of heavy rare earth elements relative to light rare earth elements, reducing the ammonia nitrogen concentration in the leachate to below 15 mg/L, simplifying the rare earth separation process, and reducing production costs and environmental pollution.

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Abstract

This invention discloses an environmentally friendly method for selectively leaching heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) from weathered crust leached rare earth ores, belonging to the fields of biometallurgy and rare earth hydrometallurgy. The method includes the following steps: activating microbial strains to obtain an activated bacterial solution; dissolving organic nitrogen and carbon sources in water to obtain a culture medium, and inoculating the activated bacterial solution to obtain a post-inoculated culture medium; adding sterilized weathered crust leached rare earth ore to the post-inoculated culture medium and conducting leaching experiments to obtain a leachate rich in HREEs; the concentration of organic nitrogen source in the culture medium is 1-2 g / L, and the concentration of carbon source is 2-10 g / L. This invention achieves a synergistic effect of selective leaching of HREEs and clean, low-ammonia nitrogen emissions through precise control of carbon and nitrogen source concentrations in the culture system, demonstrating significant industrial application value.
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