Recycling of rare earths with ionic liquid solvents: Bridging the gap between molecular modelling and process design

用离子液体溶剂回收稀土：弥合分子建模和工艺设计之间的差距

• 批准号: EP/M029867/1
• 负责人: Andrew Masters
• 金额: $ 76.39万
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FM029867%2F1
• 关键词: Recycling; rare; earths; ionic; liquid

While rare earth metals are used in relatively small quantities, they play a major role in cutting edge technologies, such as electronics, information technology and in automobile industries. These metals are used in the high-powered magnets used in computers, they are components of wind-turbines and electric cars, they are used in fluorescent lights and in several catalytic processes. Roughly 86% of all rare earths come from China. This has been recognised as a significant risk to be so dependent on one country. Unfortunately the UK possesses very few rare-earth containing minerals, but what it can do to become more self-sufficient is to recycle the rare-earths that are in waste-piles. Currently the UK has little activity in this area, but recent parliamentary reports draw attention to the need for protecting the supply of rare earths and one foresees a growing effort in this area.The UK does possess, however, a strong scientific base in the reprocessing of nuclear fuel using liquid-liquid extraction. We have worked in this area, alongside the National Nuclear laboratory. The knowledge gathered from these activities can usefully be re-chanelled into designing efficient extraction methodologies for the chemically-related rare earths. This is our intention.We will focus on the extraction of the rare-earth, Samarium, from waste high-powered magnets using ionic liquids as extractants. Our aim to to scale-up the chemical processes currently investigated by the Binnemans group in Leuven, Belgium. While we believe our general methodology can usefully be applied to many, disparate processes, our focus will be on three systems. Our proposal is firstly to study these systems at a molecular level, using molecular dynamics simulations, to understand the molecular structures that form during the extraction process. Secondly we shall use these insights to construct soundly based, reliable thermodynamic models so that we can predict system properties over a range of temperatures and compositions. Thirdly we will simulate and evaluate an industrial-scale extraction process, incorporating these models. Finally, one the basis of these models, we will liaise with the Binnemans group so that yet more optimised ionic liquids can be synthesised for rare earth extractions.

虽然稀土金属的使用量相对较少，但它们在尖端技术中发挥着重要作用，例如电子，信息技术和汽车工业。这些金属被用于计算机中的高功率磁铁，它们是风力涡轮机和电动汽车的部件，它们被用于荧光灯和几种催化过程。大约86%的稀土来自中国。这被认为是如此依赖一个国家的重大风险。不幸的是，英国拥有很少的稀土矿物质，但它可以做的是变得更加自给自足是回收稀土的废物堆。目前，联合王国在这一领域的活动很少，但最近的议会报告提请注意保护稀土供应的必要性，并预计在这一领域的努力将越来越多。然而，联合王国在使用液-液萃取法再处理核燃料方面确实拥有强大的科学基础。我们与国家核实验室一起在这一领域开展工作。从这些活动中收集的知识可以有效地重新用于设计与化学有关的稀土的有效提取方法。这就是我们的意图。我们将专注于使用离子液体作为萃取剂从废弃的高功率磁体中提取稀土钐。我们的目标是扩大比利时鲁汶Binnemans小组目前研究的化学过程。虽然我们相信我们的一般方法可以有效地应用于许多不同的流程，但我们将重点关注三个系统。我们的建议是首先在分子水平上研究这些系统，使用分子动力学模拟，以了解在提取过程中形成的分子结构。其次，我们将使用这些见解来构建基于合理的，可靠的热力学模型，以便我们可以预测系统的性质在一定范围内的温度和成分。第三，我们将模拟和评估一个工业规模的提取过程，结合这些模型。最后，作为这些模型的基础之一，我们将与Binnemans小组联系，以便可以合成更优化的离子液体用于稀土提取。