• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.213-219
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• 2018

We report a method for preparing rare earth oxides ($Re_xO_y$) from the recycling process for spent Ni-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries. This process first involves a leaching of spent Ni-MH powders with sulfuric acid at $90^{\circ}C$, resulting in rare earth precipitates (i.e., $NaRE(SO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$, RE = La, Ce, Nd), which are converted into rare earth oxides via two different approaches: i) simple heat treatment in air, and ii) metathesis reaction with NaOH at $70^{\circ}C$. Not only the morphological features but also the crystallographic structures of all products are systematically investigated using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD); their thermal behaviors are also analyzed. In particular, XRD results show that some of the rare earth precipitates are converted into oxide form (such as $La_2O_3$, $Ce_2O_3$, and $Nd_2O_3$) with heat treatment at $1200^{\circ}C$; however, secondary peaks are also observed. On the other hand, rare earth oxides, RExOy can be successfully obtained after metathesis of rare earth precipitates, followed by heat treatment at $1000^{\circ}C$ in air, along with a change of crystallographic structures, i.e., $NaRE(SO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O{\rightarrow}RE(OH)_3{\rightarrow}RE_xO_y$.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2018

For the recovering rare earths in the spent nickel-metal hydride batteries, 10 M NaOH is added to the solution leached with sulfuric acid. The rare earth powders were precipitated at rate of 98 % at the condition of pH 2.0 or less. The recovered rare earth complex precipitate increased the leaching rate to nitric acid by heat treatment at $800^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours. Subsequently secondary precipitation was performed by adding oxalic acid to the solution in which the rare earth complex precipitate was dissolved. The re-precipitated rare earth powders were converted into oxide form through heat treatment at $800^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours with purity of 99.5 %.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.18-25
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• 2019

In order to recover the cerium contained in the spent nickel metal hydride batteries (NiMH battery), the recovered rare earth complex precipitates from NIMH were converted into rare earth hydroxides through ion exchange reaction to react with NaOH aqueous solution at a reaction temperature of 70 ℃, for 4 hours. Rare earth hydroxides were oxidized by injecting air at 80 ℃ for 4 hours to oxidize Ce³⁺ to Ce⁴⁺. The oxidation rate of cerium was confirmed to be about 25 % through XPS, and the oxidized powder was separated from the rest of the rare earth using the difference in solubility in dilute sulfuric acid. The finally recovered powder has a crystal phase of cerium hydroxide (Ce(OH)₄). The cerium purity of the final product was about 94.6 %, and the recovery rate was 97.3 %.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.211-216
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• 2018

The recovery of rare earth elements (REE) including La, Nd and Ce from spent batteries is important issues to reuse scarce resources. Herein, we present a simple recovery process to obtain lanthanum oxide ($La_2O_3$) from spent Ni-MH batteries, and demonstrate the conversion mechanism from $NaLa(SO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$ to $La_2O_3$. This strategy requires the initial preparation of $NaLa(SO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$ and subsequent metathesis reaction with $Na_2CO_3$ at $70^{\circ}C$. This metathesis reaction resulted in the crystalline lanthanum carbonate hydrate ($La_2(CO_3)_3{\cdot}xH_2O$) powder with plate-like morphology. On the basis of TGA result, the $La_2(CO_3)_3{\cdot}xH_2O$ powder was calcined in air at three different temperatures, that is, $300^{\circ}C$, $500^{\circ}C$, and $1000^{\circ}C$. As the calcination temperature increased, the morphology of powder was changed; prism-like ($NaLa(SO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$) ${\rightarrow}$ platelike ($La_2(CO_3)_3{\cdot}xH_2O$) ${\rightarrow}$ aggregated irregular shape ($La_2O_3$). Futhermore, XRD results indicated that the crystalline $La_2O_3$ could be synthesized after the metathesis reaction with $Na_2CO_3$, followed by heat-treatment at $1000^{\circ}C$, along with a change of crystallographic structures; $NaLa(SO_4)_2{\cdot}H_2O$ ${\rightarrow}$ $La_2(CO_3)_3{\cdot}xH_2O$ ${\rightarrow}$ $La_2O_3$.