Patent Analysis of the Rare Earth Extracting Separation Technology

Abstract

The extraction separation is a main process to obtain the rare earth metals. In this paper, the distributions of the patent applications on the rare earth extraction separation techniques were analyzed. The main methods of the rare earth extraction separation including solvent extraction, precipitation and ion exchange were summarized. The existing problems in the rare earth industry were discussed and the development trend of rare earth industry was predicted. Furthermore, the effective patent strategy in this field was also brought forward.