Modelling and simulation of acid extraction of lanthanum from indonesian low grade bauxite using fixed-bed extractor

Abstract

Demand on lanthanides is growing rapidly due to significant growth of the utilization of advanced materials for industries. Efficient and large scale extraction process of lanthanide from their sources is studied. In this sense, extraction of lanthanum from Indonesian low grade bauxite using a fixed-bed cylindrical extractor with dimension of 30 × 3 cm was modelled and simulated. This simulation model would provide the optimum conditions, extraction time, and cost of extraction, useful for industrial application. A mathematical modelling and simulation was also used to investigate the effects of several parameters, such as particle size, fluid velocity, and acid concentration, on extraction yield of lanthanum. The simulation suggested that the maximum amount of lanthanum sulfate extracted from the low grade bauxite was as high as 6.6 mg after an extraction time of 300 min. The extraction yield can be increased when particle size was decreased, sulfuric acid flow rate was decreased, and concentration of sulfuric acid was increased. This finding can potentially lead to the development of new factory for production of lanthanide using new minor resource.