Separation of critical metals through supported liquid membrane: evaluation of synergistic interaction between organophosphorus and membranes

• Grant number: 23/01032-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: May 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa
• Grantee: Amilton Barbosa Botelho Junior
• Supervisor: William Abraham Tarpeh
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Stanford University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/14842-0 - Elucidation of the organometallic complexation mechanism between organic extractants and rare earth elements, BP.PD

Abstract

Critical metals have a severe risk of interruption in the supply chain in the short and medium term. The leading economies worldwide have rare earth elements, Li and Co, in their list of critical metals. These elements are critical to producing technologies in strategic sectors, as in the case of renewable energy, e-mobility, defense, and aerospace, and they are essential to achieving a net zero society. The processes to obtain these metals may be designed and carried out considering the aspects of sustainable development, which includes low energy consumption and fewer CO2 emissions. The hydrometallurgical process (aqueous route) includes leaching and separation/purification steps and represents great sustainable advances, including producing high-pure products. The critical step of the process is separation/purification, in which the presence of contaminants negatively impacts the production of high-pure products. Moreover, the rare earth elements are chemically similar and represent a challenge to overcome. Membrane technology for the separation of metals represents the next generation of separation/purification techniques, which represents the knowledge beyond the state-of-art. The current project aimed the study membrane separation of rare earth elements, Li and Co, using supported liquid membrane separation. Different phosphinic organic extractants, such as Cyanex 272, Cyanex 923, and D2EHPA, will be explored. The organic extractants will be placed in contact with a membrane before experiments. The effect of the concentration of organic extractant, stripping solution, and metallic ions will be evaluated. The synthetic solutions to be treated will simulate the real solutions from the extraction of critical metals from primary and secondary sources. This project will be focused on the separation mechanism through the membrane supported with different phosphinic acids as organic extractants. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BOTELHO, AMILTON BARBOSA; DA SILVA, NATALIA OLIM MARTINS; TENORIO, JORGE ALBERTO SOARES; ESPINOSA, DENISE CROCCE ROMANO. Structure Investigation of La, Y, and Nd Complexes in Solvent Extraction Process with Liquid Phosphine Oxide, Phosphinic Acid, and Amine Extractants. METALS, v. 13, n. 8, p. 16-pg., 2023-08-01. (19/11866-5, 21/14842-0, 23/01032-5)