A column filled with micro polymer inclusion beads (µPIBs) was developed and investigated for the first time. The µPIBs were composed of 60 wt% di-(2-ethyl-hexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) and 40 wt% poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and the column was used for the separation of ions of rare earth elements (REEs) from synthetic solutions and the digest of end-of-life (EOL) rare earth permanent magnets (REPMs). This µPIB packed column was successfully applied to separating La from Gd, as representatives of the light and middle REEs, previously achieved by us using a polymer inclusion membrane (PIM) containing the same chemical components as the µPIBs used in this study. The results obtained demonstrated the feasibility of the µPIBs packed in a column for light and middle REE ion separation similarly to their PIM counterpart. The separation potential of the µPIB packed column was further demonstrated by the selective recovery of Nd and Dy from an EOL REPM digest in 2 M sulfuric acid which also contained Fe, Co, and Ni. Nd and Dy could be selectively extracted from the diluted to 0.03 M sulfuric acid digest after the addition of ascorbic acid which reduced Fe to Fe. Nd and Dy were separated via selective back-extraction from the µPIB-column using 0.3 and 2 M sulfuric acid receiving solutions, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis of the µPIBs, before and after application in the µPIB-column, indicated negligible D2EHPA loss after six processing cycles. Thus, these results demonstrated the strong potential of the proposed µPIB-column method for the sustainable recovery of REEs from electronic waste such as REPMs.

中文翻译：

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使用微聚合物夹杂珠 (µPIB) 从报废永磁体中在线分离关键稀土元素


首次开发并研究了填充微聚合物包合物珠 (μPIB) 的色谱柱。 µPIB 由 60 wt% 二（2-乙基己基）磷酸 (D2EHPA) 和 40 wt% 聚氯乙烯 (PVC) 组成，该柱用于分离稀土元素 (REE) 离子）来自合成溶液和报废 (EOL) 稀土永磁体 (REPM) 的摘要。这种 µPIB 填充柱成功应用于分离 La 和 Gd，作为轻稀土和中稀土的代表，之前我们使用含有与本研究中使用的 µPIB 相同化学成分的聚合物包合物膜 (PIM) 实现了这一点。获得的结果证明了装在柱中的 µPIB 用于轻和中 REE 离子分离的可行性，类似于 PIM 对应物。 µPIB 填充柱的分离潜力通过在 2 M 硫酸（还含有 Fe、Co 和 Ni）中从 EOL REPM 消解物中选择性回收 Nd 和 Dy 得到进一步证明。添加抗坏血酸将 Fe 还原为 Fe 后，可以从稀释至 0.03 M 的硫酸消化物中选择性地提取 Nd 和 Dy。分别使用 0.3 和 2 M 硫酸接收溶液，通过选择性反萃取从 µPIB 柱中分离 Nd 和 Dy。 µPIB 在 µPIB 柱中应用之前和之后的热重分析表明，六个处理周期后 D2EHPA 损失可以忽略不计。因此，这些结果证明了所提出的 µPIB 柱方法在从 REPM 等电子废物中可持续回收 REE 方面具有强大的潜力。