Ion-absorbed rare-earth ore is an important mineral resource which is widely extracted by in-situ leaching process. And such process generates a significant amount of impurities such as aluminum and iron ions in leaching solution simultaneously. The surface characteristics and interactions by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were studied to optimize the leaching conditions. It is found that the environment-friendly depressant LG-01 can react with the impurity ions through the formation of a new complex on the surface of leaching residues. Thus, it reduces significantly the concentration of impurity ions in leaching solution and improves the leaching rate of rare-earth ore. Moreover, a leaching rate of 95.6% and an impurity removal rate of 92% have been achieved under the optimized conditions.
Ammonia-nitrogen wastewater is produced during the dressing and smelting process of rare-earth ores.Such wastewater includes a very high concentration of NH4＋, as well as other ions（e.g., NH4＋, RE3＋, Al3＋, Fe3＋, Ca2＋, Cl–, and Si O32–） with a p H of 5.4–5.6.Its direct discharge will pollute, yet it can be recycled and used as a leaching reagent for ionic rare-earth ores.In this study, leaching kinetics studies of both rare earth ions and impurity ion Al3＋ were conducted in the ammonia-nitrogen wastewater system with the aid of impurity inhibitors.Results showed that the leaching process of rare-earth followed the internal diffusion kinetic model.When the temperature was 298 K and the concentration of NH4＋ was 0.3 mol/L, the leaching reaction rate constant of ionic rare-earth was 1.72 and the apparent activation energy was 9.619 k J/mol.The leaching rate was higher than that of conventional leaching system with ammonium sulfate, which indicated that ammonia-nitrogen wastewater system and the addition of impurity inhibitors could promote ionic rare-earth leaching.The leaching kinetic process of impurity Al3＋ did not follow either internal diffusion kinetic model or chemical reaction control, but the hybrid control model which was affected by a number of process factors.Thus, during the industrial production the leaching of impurity ions could be reduced by increasing the concentration of impurity inhibitors, reducing the leaching temperature to a proper range, accelerating the seepage velocity of leaching solution, or increasing the leaching rate of rare earths.
