Precipitation behavior of calcium sulfate in leach solution of ion-adsorption rare earth ore after reverse osmosis

Abstract

Ion-adsorption rare earth ore (IAREO) is a crucial source of mid-heavy rare earths elements (M-HRE). Reverse osmosis technology is a promising technique for the pre-concentration of the leach solution from in-situ leaching of IAREO. However, calcium sulfate scaling is inevitably formed in sulfate system, causing decreases in the flux and life time of membrane. Herein, to simulate the precipitation behavior of calcium sulfate in the leach solution of IAREO during reverse osmosis, a series of experiments was conducted in binary and quaternary supersaturated calcium sulfate solution systems. Experimental data show that the concentration of Ca2+ decreases with the increase of the concentration of Mg2+, and increases with the increase of the concentration of RE3+ in both binary and quaternary systems. Whereas, the influence of Al3+ on the concentration of Ca2+ is different. This variation of the Ca2+ concentration is explained by thermodynamic analysis. The difference of association concentration for Mg2+, Al3+ and RE3+ with SO42− in binary or quaternary system is the main reason. Finally, the influence and mechanisms of antiscalant on the precipitation behavior of calcium sulfate are discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Zeta potential and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses reveal that polyacrylic acid (PAA) effectively inhibits the crystal growth of calcium sulfate, and the precipitation time of calcium sulfate is prolonged, indicating that PPA is a potential inhibitor for calcium sulfate scaling during the process of reverse osmosis.