Separation and recovery of rare earths by in situ selective electrochemical oxidation and extraction from spent fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts

An efficient method for recovering and separating Ce3+ and La3+ rare earth elements from spent fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst is described. Initially, the spent FCC catalyst was leached with 2 M HNO3 at 80 degrees C then removal of iron from the leach solution was carried out by solvent extraction with 25% (v/v) diisooctyl phosphinic acid (DiOAP) in n-octane. Extraction of the above rare earths was then undertaken from the nitric acid leach solution using an organic phase consisting of 25% (v/v) di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) and 25% (v/v) tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) in n-octane. Both rare earths were stripped form the organic phase using H2SO4. Separation of the Ce3+ from La3+ was then achieved by means of an in situ electrochemical oxidation coupled with a simultaneous solvent extraction process. In this, the Ce3+ was electrochemically oxidized to Ce4+ and removed from the aqueous phase by solvent extraction employing 100 mM D2EHPA in n-octane. This led to efficient separation of the above rare earths, giving rise to La3+ in high purity of up to 99.5% and Ce4+ up to 100%. The separation occurs via a single extraction step without the need for pH adjustment or for the use of additional reagents.