CMI Project 3.2.4 Capture and fractionation of lanthanide salts with dimethyl ether-driven fractional crystallization (DME-FC)

In this project, solvent-driven fractional crystallization (FC) and electrochemical membrane reactor (EMR) technology will be advanced to recover mineral salts, including lanthanides from dilute complex wastewater sources, remove impurities and lanthanides from lanthanide containing leach solutions, and drive selective lanthanide-lanthanide separation. The major limitation of commercializing solvent-driven FC is the cost of removing and recovering trace solvent from treated solutions. This project will advance the use of dimethyl ether (DME), a condensable gas with significant water solubility that can be easily recycled to solve this limitation. Part of this project will use EMR to extract rare earth elements from bauxite residue, also called red mud. This solid waste generated during alumina extraction from bauxite contains about 1 kg rare earth elements per ton.