Innovative Chemical Technologies for Rare Earth Element Processing
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 819
Special Issue Editors
Interests: separation; cluster; interaction; molecular dynamics; DFT (density functional theory)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: rare earth leaching; mineral processing; surface chemistry; separation technology; solid waste resourceization
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Rare-earth elements play a crucial role in the production of advanced materials and are key resources for cutting-edge national defense technologies. Weathered crust elution-deposited rare-earth ores (WREOs) are the primary sources of medium and heavy rare-earth elements. In WREOs, rare-earth elements predominantly exist as hydrated or hydroxy-hydrated ions within weathered clay minerals, making conventional physical mineral processing methods ineffective for their enrichment and recovery.
Currently, leaching is the main method used for extracting rare-earth elements from these ores. During the leaching process, neutral salts with higher cationic activity than rare-earth ions are employed to dissolve rare-earth elements from the minerals. Ammonium sulfate is the leaching agent most commonly used in industrial applications. However, challenges such as high impurity content, water absorption, and the swelling of clay minerals during leaching can lead to issues like landslides. To address these concerns, researchers have been exploring the use of compound salts as alternative leaching agents.
This Special Issue aims to provide valuable theoretical insights and technical support for the advancement of green leaching technologies and process intensification for WREO extraction.
Dr. Yuefei Zhang
Dr. Fang Zhou
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- rare-earth
- weathered crust elution-deposited rare-earth ores
- leaching
- compound leaching agents
- intermolecular interaction
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