UC Irvine

A collection of methods to separate rare earth elements are presented here. The first is a two-step separation method using low temperature direct synthesis of monazite followed by a low temperature precipitation of xenotime. Another method presented is a homogeneous precipitation using phytic acid. Both methods were met with limited success, the two step phosphoric acid method shows promise as a rough separation and improves on old fractional crystallization methods. Additionally a method of synthesizing “clean”, stoichiometric monazite is presented. Initial results show simply limiting the amount of phosphorous added in a direct precipitation method makes improvements over commercially available LaPO4 without washing with hazardous chemicals.