Biosorption and desorption of lanthanum(III) and neodymium(III) in fixed‐bed columns with Sargassum sp.: Perspectives for separation of rare earth metals

Abstract

Rare earth (RE) metals are essentials for the manufacturing of high-technology products. The separation of RE is complex and expensive; biosorption is an alternative to conventional processes. This work focuses on the biosorption of monocomponent and bicomponent solutions of lanthanum(III) and neodymium(III) in fixed-bed columns using Sargassum sp. biomass. The desorption of metals with HCl 0.10 mol L(-1) from loaded biomass is also carried out with the objective of increasing the efficiency of metal separation. Simple models have been successfully used to model breakthrough curves (i.e., Thomas, Bohart-Adams, and Yoon-Nelson equations) for the biosorption of monocomponent solutions. From biosorption and desorption experiments in both monocomponent and bicomponent solutions, a slight selectivity of the biomass for Nd(III) over La(III) is observed. The experiments did not find an effective separation of the RE studied, but their results indicate a possible partition between the metals, which is the fundamental condition for separation perspectives.

Diethylenetriamine-functionalized chitosan magnetic nano-based particles for the sorption of rare earth metal ions [Nd(III), Dy(III) and Yb(III)]

“…The extraction of metals from these leachates or waste streams can be processed by precipitation (Rabatho et al 2013), solvent extraction (Abreu and Morais 2014;Tunsu et al 2014;Vander Hoogerstraete and Binnemans 2014;Xie et al 2014), ion exchange and chelating resins (Abdel-Rahman Adel et al 2010; Barron et al 2008;Lokshin et al 2013;Xiong and Zheng 2010), extractant-impregnated resins (Lee et al 2010) and biosorption (Das and Das 2013;Hosomomi et al 2013;Oliveira et al 2012Oliveira et al , 2011Wu et al 2011). The selection of the appropriate process depends on the composition of the effluents (i.e., metal concentration, metal speciation, presence of competitor ions) and may face some critical problems: the production of huge amounts of contaminated sludge, difficulty to reach target discharge levels (precipitation) and economic limitations (poor competiveness of solvent extraction at low metal concentration; cost of sophisticated resins).…”

Avaliação Do Uso De Biomassa Bacteriana Imobilizada Na Biossorção De Terras-Raras Leves E Médias

“…Entretanto, os valores calculados para este parâmetro são muito similares de maneira que os mesmos não são suficientes para inferir tal informação. No caso da biossorção de La e Nd pela macroalga Sargassum sp., os valores de K L obtidos foram maiores para La (505,11 L/g) em comparação com Nd (481,80 L/g), demonstrando a preferência da alga marrom pela adsorção de TRs leves (Oliveira et al, 2012).…”

Dy(III) recovery from dilute solutions using magnetic-chitosan nano-based particles grafted with amino acids

“…However, these waste streams can also contain valuable metals such as platinumgroup metals [5,6], silver, gold [7], gallium, indium, rareearth elements (REEs) [8][9][10][11][12], or uranium [13,14]. The recovery of valuable metals from dilute aqueous waste streams processing from acid mine drainage, coal mines [15], from industrial effluents, or from treatment of spent materials (wastes and end-of-life consumer goods) comes like complementary to primary mining resources [14,16,17].…”