A new secondary ore of rare earth was discovered in the Southwest of China. It is a kind of product of the weathered mineral.
The rare earth elements (REE) in it exist probably as ionic characteristic adsorption state in manganesian and ferric oxide
colloid mineral, and one bearer of REE is amorphous ferric oxide gel. It is necessary to study the binding state of rare earth
elements on manganesian and ferric oxide in order to utilize comprehensively the rare earth resources and avoid latent influence
on the environment resulting from the fact that high-content rare earth elements are carried into soil by the mineral efflorescence.
A simulating adsorption test of rare earth ions in weak acid media is carried out with ferric oxide gel prepared by sol-gel
method. The experimental results show that the characteristics of adsorption isotherm correspond well with the Flory-Huggins
equation, but deviated from the Langmuir equation. The standard molar adsorption Gibbs function, standard molar adsorption
entropy and standard molar adsorption enthaply are calculated. The measurements of the point of zero charge and isoelectric
point show occurrence of the characteristic adsorption. It has been proved that the OH group on the skeleton of ferric oxide
gel is the innate cause of the characteristic adsorption.
Key words ferric oxide gel - rare earth elements - characteristic adsorption
Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
Synopsis of the first author Zhang Ping, born in Dec. 1956, doctoral student; main study fields are rare earth mineral and extraction technology of rare
earth elements from ore, and comprehensive utilization of secondary resources.