Green and Efficient Recovery/Extraction of Rare Earth Resources

Dear Colleagues,

Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical and strategic components for the development of future green and low-carbon economies due to their fundamental roles in many clean and renewable energy technologies (e.g., solar panels, wind turbines, and hybrid vehicle batteries). At present, the global demand for REEs is continuously increasing. Nevertheless, the worldwide supply of REEs is limited, and mining REEs from natural resources has a low recovery rate and causes many environmental problems. Therefore, developing innovative methods for the green and efficient recovery of REEs is a key strategy for meeting the global increasing demand for REEs.

REEs are predominantly mined from mineral phase-type ores (e.g., the Bayan Obo rare earth ores) and ion-adsorption-type rare earth deposits (e.g., weathering crust). Due to their exhaustive exploitation, the natural repository for REEs is decreasing dramatically. Recovering REEs from secondary resources, such as fly ash, mine tailing, and electronic waste, is an alternative method of extraction.

This Special Issue is organized into three sections:

Section 1: Recovery/Mining of REEs from ion-adsorption rare earth deposits: Methods and case studies.
Section 2: Recovery/Extraction/Hydrometallurgy of REEs from mineral phase rare earth ores: Methods and case studies.
Section 3: Recovery/Extraction of REEs from secondary resources: Methods and case studies.

This Special Issue aims to discuss all methods for recovering REEs from various REE-carriers, including weathering crust, minerals, and secondary resources. All types of experimental, theoretical, and simulation studies are welcome.

Dr. Gaofeng Wang
Dr. Yongqiang Yang
Guest Editors

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