Rare-Earth Recovery from Industrial Waste and Secondary Sources
This community develops chemical processes to extract and separate rare-earth elements from industrial residues, coal by-products, and mining waste, focusing on selective recovery methods and environmental impact assessment.
The work centers on hydrometallurgical techniques such as acid leaching, solvent extraction, and adsorption to isolate specific elements like scandium and lanthanum. Key feedstocks include red mud, fly ash, bauxite residue, and phosphogypsum. Researchers also apply life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental footprint of these recovery routes. Specific processes involve the use of sulfuric and phosphoric acids, ionic liquids, and selective separation agents to treat complex waste streams. The goal is to recover critical metals from materials that would otherwise be discarded, turning industrial waste into a viable source of raw materials.
The community represents the largest share of research tracked for neodymium, accounting for 15.0% of that element's literature, and 11.9% for scandium. It also contributes significantly to lanthanum research, comprising 5.4% of that element's tracked papers.
There are 18,395 papers in this group, published primarily in Hydrometallurgy, Separation and Purification Technology, and Minerals.
Recent work continues to focus on optimizing recovery from phosphogypsum and coal gasification slag, as well as exploring biomass-based adsorption methods. New studies also examine the environmental impacts of mining and the circularity of mineral resources in photovoltaic applications.
Papers behind this description
- Green steel from red mud through climate-neutral hydrogen plasma reduction — Nature, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06901-z
- A high-strength red mud–fly ash geopolymer and the implications of curing temperature — Powder Technology, 2023 — doi:10.1016/j.powtec.2023.118242
- Review on progress of rare earth science and technology in 2024 — Journal of Rare Earths, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.jre.2025.08.003
- Global rare earth element resources: A concise review — Applied Geochemistry, 2024 — doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2024.106158
- A review on complex utilization of mine tailings: Recovery of rare earth elements and residue valorization — Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2024 — doi:10.1016/j.jece.2024.113118
- Global rare earth elements projects: New developments and supply chains — Ore Geology Reviews, 2023 — doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2023.105428
- Rare earth permanent magnets for the green energy transition: Bottlenecks, current developments and cleaner production solutions — Resources Conservation and Recycling, 2024 — doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107966
- Influence mechanism of leaching agent anions on the leaching of aluminium impurities in ionic-type rare earth ores: A DFT simulation combined with experimental verification — Separation and Purification Technology, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2024.128768
- Toward Low-Carbon Construction: A Review of Red Mud Utilization in Cementitious Materials and Geopolymers for Sustainability and Cost Benefits — Buildings, 2026 — doi:10.3390/buildings16020362
- Synthesis of Lignin-Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbon via Hydrothermal–Phosphoric Acid Synergistic Activation for Enhanced Adsorption of Tetracycline — Molecules, 2026 — doi:10.3390/molecules31030447
- Overview of the triple attributes and their connections of coal gasification slag in China: resources, materials, and environment — Fuel, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2025.135646
- The fundamentals of rare earth element ion adsorption clay deposits: A mineral systems approach for exploration — Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.gexplo.2025.107845
- A review of biomass-based adsorption for rare earth elements recovery — Journal of Rare Earths, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.jre.2025.03.006
- Environmental impacts of rare earth elements mining and strategies for sustainable management: A comprehensive review — Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.140400