A Novel Process for the Extraction and Separation of High-Purity Scandium and Rare Earths from Titanium Dioxide Acid Wastes

The overall objective of Phase II is to develop and prove the concept of producing high-purity scandium and potentially rare earths oxides (or other solids) from titanium dioxide acid waste (TDAW) at a larger scale to a field scale. Specifically, Anactisis will scale up the new separation system developed during Phase I, consisting of a solid-phase extraction (SPE) circuit and a precipitation circuit, for producing primarily scandium (Sc) oxide (or other solid), and secondary other potential critical elements, including a REEmix concentrate or germanium, in a cost-effective and environmentally benign way. The Lead-Lag Column technology will be used in conjunction with Anactisis proprietary selective adsorbent for the separation of target elements from TDAW. The project will validate the concept by constructing and testing a laboratory-scale Lead-Lag Column unit to optimize and troubleshoot the separation of scandium in order to integrate its system to a titanium oxide producer’s facility and to inform the transition to a larger scale system; build and operate intermittently a micro-pilot unit equipped with 2.5L columns; produce scandium oxide quantities for testing with master alloy partners and other potential customers; demonstrate the cost benefits of the proposed technology; prepare engineering designs for larger scale system (1 tpa), and further reduce the risk of technology commercialization through a systems design for process scale-up. The success of this project would shorten the technological gap in the domestic critical elements supply chain. Also, this technology can be commercially applied to separate and recover critical elements from a variety of mining and industrial wastes. It will offer a promising solution to boost domestic critical element production and to create new manufacturing jobs.