Rubidium Extraction

Abstract

Rubidium is a very soft, silvery-white appearance alkali metal in the first group of periodic table. Rubidium and its compounds have been widely used in electronics, telecommunications, optical and laser technology, biomedical, space technology, academic research especially quantum mechanics-based computing devices because of its exclusive properties like softness, ductility, malleability, strong chemical and photo-emissive activity, low melting point and easy ionization. With rapidly growing technology and science, attention to rubidium will increase even more in near future. Although it is one of the most abundant elements on the Earth’s crust, there is no mineral that is the main component of rubidium. Large amount but low concentration of rubidium exists in brines. It is also produced as minor quantities from lepidolite and pollucite that are lithium and cesium-rich minerals. However, there is limited research on the extraction of rubidium from mining tailings. Rubidium is found in these minerals in a complex structure together with other alkali metals that have very similar properties. So, it is difficult to extract or concentrate rubidium from these sources. Separating rubidium requires a series of physical and chemical processes and is costly. Research on efficient, environmentally friendly, and cheap methods for the recovery of rubidium are being investigated.