Extraction of Ce (IV), Yb (III) and Y(III) and recovery of some rare earth elements from Egyptian monazite using CYANEX 923 in kerosene

• CYANEX 923 in kerosene could efficiently extract Ce (IV), Y (III) and Yb (III) from aqueous nitrate solution.
• Stripping of the investigated metals from the organic phase using different stripping agents indicated that HCl was the maximum effective solution for stripping Ce (IV), Yb (III) and Y (III).
• The separation between Ce (IV), Y (III), Yb (III) as well as Pr (III), Sm (III) and Nd (III) with CYANEX 923 was found to be possible based on the difference in their extraction and stripping behavior as well as temperature.
• A process for the recovery of rare earth elements(REE) with CYANEX 923 in kerosene from Egyptian monazite after subjecting it to an alkaline leaching and removal of uranium and thorium was proposed.
• The obtained results indicate that this system could be efficiently used for extraction and separation of Ce (IV), Pr (III), Nd (III), Sm (III), Y (III) and Yb (III) from Monazite.

Separation and recovery of some rare earth elements, including cerium (Ce (IV)), ytterbium (Yb(III)) and yttrium (Y(III)) from nitric acid solution using CYANEX 923 in kerosene at 25 °C was studied. The parameters which influence the extraction process were separately investigated. On the basis of the slope analysis method on the obtained data, the composition of the extracted species was found to be [Ce (NO3)3(OH)·2CY], [Yb (NO3)2(OH)·2CY·H2O], and [Y (NO3)2(OH)·2CY·H2O], for Ce (IV), Yb (III) and Y (III), respectively, where CY denotes CYANEX 923. The structures of the extracted metal species showed by FT-IR investigations indicated the presence of OH– and NO3− groups. Moreover, the thermodynamic parameters associated with the extraction process were evaluated. Based on the obtained results, as well as those obtained in a previous publication for the extraction of Pr (III), Sm (III) and Nd (III) with CYANEX 923 under similar conditions, a process for the recovery of REE from the Egyptian monazite was proposed and evaluated.