Sains Malaysiana 54(10)(2025): 2509-2523

http://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2025-5410-14

 

Solid-Liquid Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Indonesian Wacopek Bauxite Tailings by the Sulfuric Acid Leaching and Precipition Methods

(Pengekstrakan Pepejal-Cecair Unsur Nadir Bumi daripada Amang Bauksit Wacopek Indonesia dengan Kaedah Larut Lesap Asid Sulfurik dan Pemendakan)

 

ENY KUSRINI^1,2,*, YUSWAN MUHARAM¹, MERISA AULIA¹, ANWAR USMAN³, AGUS BUDI PRASETYO⁴, NOFRIJON SOFYAN⁵, SUYANTI⁶, DONANTA DHANESWARA⁵, NYOMAN SUWARTHA⁷, PONKY IVO⁸, FRANKLIN APRILIO¹, LEE D. WILSON⁹, EL-SAYED NEGIM¹⁰
& ARIF RAHMAN¹¹

 

¹Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus Baru UI,
Depok 16424, Indonesia
²Research Group of Green Product and Fine Chemical Engineering, Laboratory of Chemical Product Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus Baru UI, Depok, 16424, Indonesia
³Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
⁴Research Center for Metallurgy, National Research and Innovation Agency, Puspitek Area, Tangerang Selatan, 15314, Indonesia
⁵Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia,
Kampus Baru UI, Depok 16424, Indonesia
⁶Research Center for Mining Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency, Jl. Ir. Sutami KM. 15, Tanjung Bintang, Lampung Selatan, Lampung 35361, Indonesia
⁷Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus Baru UI, Depok 16424, Indonesia
⁸Research Center for Advanced Material, National Research and Innovation Agency, Serpong, KST B.J. Habibie Puspiptek, Setu, Tangerang Selatan, Banten, 15314, Indonesia
⁹Department of Chemistry, University of Saskatchewan 110 Science Place, Room 156 Thorvaldson Building, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5C9, Canada
¹⁰School of Materials Science and Green Technologies, Kazakh British Technical University, St. Tole bi 59, 050000, Almaty, Kazakhstan
¹¹Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Rawamangun, East Jakarta, Indonesia

 

Received: 6 October 2024/Accepted: 11 August 2025

 

Abstract

The high demand of rare earth elements (REEs) and geopolitical issues affecting their supply. Thus, a number of research  have been conducted to find some secondary resources for producing of REEs. The work is aimed to extract of total REEs (TREEs) from Indonesian Wacopek bauxite tailing by solid-liquid extraction using sulfuric acid with concentrations being  1.5 to 5 M and the precipitation methods. Leaching and enrichment of total REEs from the bauxite tailings employed sulfuric acid as the solvent, where precipitation occurred in two stages using sodium sulfate and sodium phosphate as well as leaching kinetic have been investigated. The final extracted REEs are in the forms of their hydroxides. The experimental was conducted in the batch system by varying leaching time (5 to 60 min) and temperature (25 to 60 °C). Metal separation from the leachate was carried out by a solid-liquid extraction in H2SO4 at a liquid/solid (L/S) ratio of 20 mL/g, according to the optimal operating temperature at 60 °C, leaching time of 30 min, concentration of H2SO4 of 3 M, leachate volume of 500 mL, and L/S ratio of 20 mL/g. In the total REEs precipitation process with subsequent NH4OH-sodium sulfate and NH4OH-sodium phosphate precipitant system yielded 0.23 g and 9.8 g of REEs-sulfate and REEs-phosphate, respectively. The final REE-hydroxides gave the maximum total REEs yield as high as 90.75%. Leaching kinetics study was described by the shrinking core model for unchanged spherical particle sizes, and acid leaching occurred in two steps that governed by chemical reaction and diffusion process. The activation energy in the first chemical process was characterized to be 10.1 kJ/mol and the second diffusion process was 15.5 kJ/mol. In this work, the solid-liquid extraction process used sulfuric acid to bind to the TREEs contained in the Wacopek dried bauxite tailing potential for further separation of TREEs.
Keywords: Batch system; bauxite tailing; solid-liquid extraction; sulfuric acid leaching; total rare earth elements

Abstrak

Permintaan yang tinggi untuk unsur nadir bumi (REE) dan isu geopolitik telah menjejaskan bekalannya, justeru, banyak penyelidikan telah dijalankan untuk mencari beberapa sumber sekunder untuk menghasilkan REE. Penyelidikan ini bertujuan untuk mengekstrak jumlah REE (TREE) daripada amang bauksit Wacopek Indonesia melalui pengekstrakan pepejal-cecair menggunakan asid sulfurik dengan kepekatan 1.5 hingga 5 M dan kaedah pemendakan. Larut resap dan pengayaan jumlah REE daripada amang bauksit telah menggunakan asid sulfurik sebagai pelarut dengan pemendakan berlaku dalam dua peringkat menggunakan natrium sulfat dan natrium fosfat serta penyelidikan kinetik larut lesap telah dikaji. Ekstrak akhir REE adalah dalam bentuk hidroksida. Uji kaji telah dijalankan dalam sistem kelompok dengan masa larut lesap (5 hingga 60 minit) dan suhu (25 hingga 60 °C) yang berbeza-beza. Pengasingan logam daripada larut lesap dilakukan dengan pengekstrakan pepejal-cecair dalam H₂SO₄ pada nisbah cecair/pepejal (L/S) 20 mL/g, mengikut suhu operasi optimum pada 60 °C, masa larut lesap 30 minit, kepekatan H₂SO₄ 3 M, isi padu larut resap 500 mL/S dan nisbah L/S 20 mL/g. Dalam proses pemendakan jumlah REE dengan sistem pemendakan NH₄OH-natrium sulfat dan NH₄OH-natrium fosfat seterusnya menghasilkan 0.23 g dan 9.8 g sulfat REE dan fosfat REE. Hidroksida REE akhir memberikan hasil maksimum jumlah REE sehingga 90.75%. Kajian kinetik larut lesap telah diterangkan oleh model teras mengecut untuk saiz zarah sfera yang tidak berubah dan asid larut lesap berlaku dalam dua langkah yang dikawal oleh tindak balas kimia dan proses penyebaran. Tenaga pengaktifan dalam proses kimia pertama dicirikan sebagai 10.1 kJ/mol dan proses penyebaran kedua ialah 15.5 kJ/mol. Dalam kertas ini, proses pengekstrakan pepejal-cecair menggunakan asid sulfurik untuk mengikat kepada TREE yang terkandung dalam amang bauksit kering Wacopek dan berpotensi untuk pemisahan selanjutnya bagi TREE.

 

Kata kunci: Amang bauksit; jumlah unsur nadir bumi; larut lesap asid sulfurik; pengekstrakan pepejal-cecair; sistem kelompok

 

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*Corresponding author; email: eny.k@ui.ac.id