Flowsheet design and modelling for high purity praseodymium and neodymium by solvent extraction

Zulkifli, N. and Shoparwe, N. and Yusoff, A.H. and Abdullah, A.Z. and Ahmad, Mohammad Norazmi (2026) Flowsheet design and modelling for high purity praseodymium and neodymium by solvent extraction. ompleksnoe Ispolzovanie Mineralnogo Syra = Complex Use of Mineral Resources, 342 (3). pp. 111-122. ISSN 2224-5243 E-ISSN 2616-6445

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Abstract

Purifying rare earth elements (REEs) from ion-adsorbed clay (IAC) deposits demands complex solvent extraction (SX) setups to achieve commercial-grade purity. This study presents the design and validation of a four-train counter-current SX flowsheet for processing a pre-treated REE chloride liquor sourced from Malaysia’s Jeli deposit. Using an iterative steady-state mass-balance simulation in Microsoft Excel, the research determines the operational parameters needed to achieve a 4N (99.99%) terminal purity target for each REE stream. The methodology involved pinpointing critical A/B separation cuts and optimising the organic-to-aqueous (O/A) ratios across the cascade. The results show that the flowsheet effectively fractionates the feedstock, starting with a bulk LREE/HREE separation (Train 1) and culminating in the challenging separation of praseodymium (Pr) and neodymium (Nd) (Train 4). The simulation identified Pr/Nd separation as the primary technical bottleneck, requiring 62 equilibrium stages (NE) due to a low separation factor (β) of 1.70. In contrast, simpler bulk splits needed as few as 16 stages. These findings confirm the theoretical minimum stage requirements (Nmin) and provide a detailed stage-wise concentration profile for each train. The study concludes that the Pr/Nd circuit dictates the overall plant footprint and capital intensity. The developed flowsheet offers a solid technical blueprint for commercialising Malaysian IAC resources, ensuring high-purity REE recovery through optimised metallurgical design

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	REE separation, solvent extraction, P507, equilibrium curve, extraction stages
Subjects:	Q Science > QD Chemistry
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Science > Department of Chemistry
Depositing User:	Dr Mohammad Norazmi Ahmad
Date Deposited:	25 May 2026 16:56
Last Modified:	25 May 2026 16:56
Queue Number:	2026-05-Q3565
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/129144

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