Abstract
Metallothermic reduction is the reaction of a metal reductant with a rare earth oxide or halide to produce rare earth metal. Important examples are (i) reduction of samarium oxide with lanthanum to produce samarium metal and (ii) reduction of gadolinium fluoride with calcium to produce gadolinium metal. The process is always operated in batch mode so it is slow and expensive. However, it is the only way that samarium, europium, thulium, and ytterbium can be produced, because of their high vapor pressures. Electrowinning cannot be used because metal vapor losses would be excessive. All the other rare earth metals can be produced by electrowinning or metallothermic reduction. Electrowinning is probably the better process for producing large quantities of metal, e.g., neodymium. Metallothermic reduction is probably the better process for producing small quantities of metal (e.g., lutetium).
Published Version
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