Activation of leaching of rare earth elements from phosphohemihydrate

Abstract

Treatment of fresh phosphohemihydrate obtained in processing the Khibiny apatite concentrate by hemihydrate sulfuric acid method was suggested by solutions containing alkali metal fluorides. It was shown that such treatment reduces the transit time of low-hydrated rare earth elements phosphates contained therein, which are poorly soluble in mineral acids, into the acid form from 2 months to 4–8 h.