Development Status and Prospect of Rare Earth Extraction and Separation Technology

About 15 rare earth elements are generally distributed in the rare earth ores, which are very difficult for separation and purification with relatively high chemical consumptions. According to the characteristics of the rare earth resources, a series of the world's leading processes for the separation and purification of rare earths have been originally developed by Chinese researchers, establishing China's international dominant position for rare earths production. In this paper, the technical characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, and adaptability of the main industrial processes for the solvent extraction and separation of rare earths were introduced. Among them, the separation and purification process using magnesium bicarbonate asa saponification agent can recycle magnesium salt wastewater and CO2 gas, whichnotonly solves the problems of the ammonia-nitrogen pollution and the discharge of high-salinity wastewater from the source, but also largely reduces the production costs, and as such, the process can be employed for the separation and purification of all kinds of rare earth ores. Finally, the new methods and technologies of rare earth separation and purification are introduced. The key research and development directions for the separation and purification of rare earths were pointed out according to the increasing demands for the rare earth purity in high-end applications and the serious challenges in the environmental management. © 2021, Editorial Office of Journal of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths. All right reserved.