The EURARE Project: Development of a Sustainable Exploitation Scheme for Europe’s Rare Earth Ore Deposits

Balomenos, Efthymios; Davris, Panagiotis; Deady, Eimear; Yang, Jason; Panias, D.; Friedrich, Bernd; Binnemans, Koen; Seisenbaeva, Gulaim A.; Dittrich, Carsten; Kalvig, Per; Paspaliaris, Ioannis

doi:10.1595/205651317x695172

Cited by 31 publications

(25 citation statements)

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“…A stable relationship of risk was constructed between governments in the EU and in the US, and a common object of risk agreed upon that was evident in narratives of "supply risk". In response, many publicly funded projects have developed technologies for REE-separation and recycling on a lab-scale (see i.e., EC-funded FP7 or H2020 projects such as [77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84]) and the potential for recycling was discussed (e.g., [37,[85][86][87][88][89]). Surprisingly little progress occurred from lab-scale tests of the technologies to commercial implementation.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governance and Risk–Value Constructions in Closing Loops of Rare Earth Elements in Global Value Chains

2017

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This article addresses a research gap on the challenges-specifically risk and value-connected to realizing the potential for closing loops for rare earth elements (REE). We develop an analytical framework from conceptual elements of the global value chain (GVC) framework and the relational theory of risk to examine several empirical REE industry cases for loop closure. The aim of the paper is to identify how risk-value relationships are constructed by different actors as governance structures form in transactions prior to price setting and how these have impacts on the closure of REE loops. Often, REE loops are not closed, and we find that constructions of the risk-value relationship by industrial actors and by government agencies are unstable as they pursue different motivations, consequently hindering REE loop closure in GVCs. In light of this, we propose that governments mediate against the construction of risk-value relationships by facilitating information on the characteristics of end-of-life materials that qualify these for re-entry into loops.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governance and Risk–Value Constructions in Closing Loops of Rare Earth Elements in Global Value Chains

2017

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“…The chosen parameters were proposed concerning the previous experimental work at the EURARE Project [11], literature data [17,24], and high experience of the authors in hydrometallurgy.…”

Section: Experiments and Obtained Measurements Of Process Outputsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Demand for REE has been constantly increasing in last decades and is expected to grow even stronger in the future [8,9]. As such, many projects have been initiated all over the world, which seek to find alternative sources of REE outside China [10][11][12]. Except the secondary resources, a variety of potential unconventional deposits have also been explored, such as REE-bearing laterite, peralkaline granite, ferromanganese nodules, and silicate deposits, including eudialyte, mosandrite, and britholite [13][14][15][16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural Network Modeling for the Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Eudialyte Concentrate by Dry Digestion and Leaching

Stopić

Gronen

et al. 2018

Metals

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Eudialyte is a promising mineral for rare earth elements (REE) extraction due to its good solubility in acid, low radioactive, and relatively high content of REE. In this paper, a two stage hydrometallurgical treatment of eudialyte concentrate was studied: dry digestion with hydrochloric acid and leaching with water. The hydrochloric acid for dry digestion to eudialyte concentrate ratio, mass of water for leaching to mass of eudialyte concentrate ratio, leaching temperature and leaching time as the predictor variables, and the total rare earth elements (TREE) extraction efficiency as the response were considered. After experimental work in laboratory conditions, according to design of experiment theory (DoE), the modeling process was performed using Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Stepwise Regression (SWR), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The ANN model of REE extraction was adopted. Additional tests showed that values predicted by the neural network model were in very good agreement with the experimental results. Finally, the experiments were performed on a scaled up system under optimal conditions that were predicted by the adopted ANN model. Results at the scale-up plant confirmed the results that were obtained in the laboratory.

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“…Several economic regions like the European Union, Japan or USA have identified raw materials that are categorised as "critical", relating to their supply risk and economic importance [1,4]. The search for new sources for critical metals has encouraged research work in, amongst others, the alumina industry, in which the caustic process liquor as well as its by-product known as bauxite residue or red mud are prospective sources of certain critical metals [5][6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is well-known that Ga is worldwide mainly produced as a by-product of Bayer process [8,15] and V can also be recovered as vanadium sludge during the production of alumina [7,16]. There exists a growing interest in the extraction of the relatively valuable REEs and Sc from bauxite residue by exploiting various hydrometallurgical or combined pyro-and hydrometallurgical routes [5][6][7]11,17,18]. In addition, the demand for these metals has been increasing steadily and further increase is projected in the future [1,3,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of Selected Trace Elements in the Bayer Process

Vind

Alexandri

Vassiliadou³

et al. 2018

Metals

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Abstract:The aim of this work was to achieve an understanding of the distribution of selected bauxite trace elements (gallium (Ga), vanadium (V), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), rare earth elements (REEs), scandium (Sc)) in the Bayer process. The assessment was designed as a case study in an alumina plant in operation to provide an overview of the trace elements behaviour in an actual industrial setup. A combination of analytical techniques was used, mainly inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and optical emission spectroscopy as well as instrumental neutron activation analysis. It was found that Ga, V and As as well as, to a minor extent, Cr are principally accumulated in Bayer process liquors. In addition, Ga is also fractionated to alumina at the end of the Bayer processing cycle. The rest of these elements pass to bauxite residue. REEs and Sc have the tendency to remain practically unaffected in the solid phases of the Bayer process and, therefore, at least 98% of their mass is transferred to bauxite residue. The interest in such a study originates from the fact that many of these trace constituents of bauxite ore could potentially become valuable by-products of the Bayer process; therefore, the understanding of their behaviour needs to be expanded. In fact, Ga and V are already by-products of the Bayer process, but their distribution patterns have not been provided in the existing open literature.

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The EURARE Project: Development of a Sustainable Exploitation Scheme for Europe’s Rare Earth Ore Deposits

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Governance and Risk–Value Constructions in Closing Loops of Rare Earth Elements in Global Value Chains

Governance and Risk–Value Constructions in Closing Loops of Rare Earth Elements in Global Value Chains

Neural Network Modeling for the Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Eudialyte Concentrate by Dry Digestion and Leaching

Distribution of Selected Trace Elements in the Bayer Process

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