Separation of cobalt, neodymium and dysprosium using amorphous zirconium phosphate

The purpose of this study was to investigate the separation of Co, Nd and Dy from a ternary Co-Nd-Dy solution using amorphous zirconium phosphate (am-ZrP). Am-ZrP was synthesized by a precipitation method at room temperature and subsequently characterized by Fourier transform-infrared spectrometry, thermogravimetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, solid-state 31P magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry and sodium hydroxide titration (with and without background salt). The ion exchange kinetics of am-ZrP that were determined in ternary 1 mM equimolar solutions at equilibrium pH 2.5. The effect of pH on the adsorption was studied in ternary 1 mM equimolar solutions and the uptakes of the metals increased with increasing pH until approximately pH 3.5. The adsorption isotherms of Co, Nd and Dy were tested in a series of ternary equimolar solution, the total uptake amounted to 4.13 meq/g at pH ~ 3.0. The preference of am-ZrP for these metals occurred in decreasing order Dy > Nd ≫ Co. The separation of Co, Nd and Dy from their 1 mM equimolar ternary mixture was investigated on an am-ZrP column. Effects of loading (7.8%, 62% and 100%) on the separation were compared by measuring the corresponding HNO3 elution fractions. It was found that with a lower metal loading of 7.8%, three clear elution bands were obtained. Am-ZrP exhibited selective separation properties towards the ternary Co-Nd-Dy system, which contribute to the future scale-up studies for the recycling of NdFeB magnets.