• Resources Recycling
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.43-48
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• 2004

For the separation of neodymium from NdFeB permanent magnet scrap, the scrap was roasted for oxidizing, and leached with acetic acid followed by fractional crystallization for selective separation. From the analysis results of the leached solution, the optimum condition for the recovery of neodymium was found that leaching temperature, leaching time and pulp density are 80$^{\circ}C$, 3 hours, and 35%, respectively. At this optimum condition, more than 90% of neodymium could be recovered. Concentration of neodymium acetate in acetic acid. The optimum condition for the recovery of neodymium acetate crystal from the leached solution was that the initial leaching solution was evaporated until the remaining volume was about 1/5 of the initial volume. At this condition, 67.5% of neodymium was recovered from the leached solution. The neodymium remaining in the concentrated solution was recovered by reacting it with oxalic acid.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.57-63
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• 2003

In this study, the separation of neodymium was investigated from NdFeB permanent magnet scrap. Decomposition and leach-ing process of NdFeB permanent magnet scrap by oxidation roasting and sulfuric arid leaching were examined. Neodymium could be separated from iron by double salt precipitation using sodium sulfate. The optimum conditions established for decom-position and leaching are as follows: oxidation roasting temperature is $500^{\circ}C$ for sintered scrap and $700^{\circ}C$ for bonded scrap, concentration of sulfuric acid in leaching solution is 2.0 M, leaching temperature and time is $50^{\circ}C$ and 2 hrs, and pulp density is 15%. The leaching yield of neodymium and iron was 99.4% and 95.7% respectively. The optimum condition for separation of neodymium by double-salt precipitation was 2 equivalents of sodium sulfate and $50^{\circ}C$ The yield of neodymium was above 99.9%.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.584-591
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• 2000

The separation of Nd from the simulated $U_3Si/Al$ spent fuel solution with sequential two-step anion exchange separation has been studied. To prepare the simulated $U_3Si/Al$ spent nuclear fuel, unirradiated $U_3Si/Al$ whose composition consists of small $U_3Si$ particle dispersed in an Al matrix with Al cladding was dissolved with a mixture of 4 M HCl and 10 M $HNO_3$ and 8 or 15 fission product elements were added to the dissolved solution. The trace amount of silica in the solutions was removed by evaporating to dryness with HF and the U was adsorbed on the first anion exchange resin. Neodymium can be purely isolated from the fission product elements with a methanol-nitric acid eluent using the second anion exchange resin. A large excess of Al didn't influence on the elution velocity of Nd, but reduced the eluted contents of Nd, Al, Eu, Gd, Sm and Sr, A large amount of Al was removed first from the column with 3 mL of loading solution (0.8 M $HNO_3$/99.8% MeOH) before Nd elution by the eluent [0.04 M $HNO_3$-99.8% MeOH(1:9)]. The recovery of Nd was more than 94%, regardless of Al contents. Taking the 9 to 13 mL fraction of eluate was effective to purely isolate Nd.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.74-74
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• 2017

Electrorefining is a key step in pyroprocessing. The electrorefining process is generally composed of two recovery steps - the deposit of uranium onto a solid cathode and the recovery of the remaining uranium and TRU elements simultaneously by a liquid cadmium cathode. Uranium deposit recovered from the solid cathode is a dendritic powder. It is necessary to separate the adhered salt from the deposits prior to the consolidation of uranium deposit. The adhered salt is composed of lithium, potassium, uranium, and rare earth chlorides. Distillation process was employed for the cathode processing. One of the operation methods is distillation of the salt at low temperature ($900^{\circ}C$), and then melting of the deposit at high temperature to avoid a backward reaction. For the development of the salt distiller, the distillation behavior of the low vapor pressure chlorides should be studied. Rare earth chlorides in the adhered salt of uranium deposits have relatively low vapor pressures compared to the process salt (LiCl-KCl). In this study, the evaporation rates of the lanthanum and neodymium chlorides were measured for the salt separation from electrorefiner uranium deposits in the temperature range of $825{\sim}910^{\circ}C$. The evaporation rate of both chlorides increased with an increasing templerature. The evaporation rate of lanthanum chloride varied from 0.12 to $1.68g/cm^2/h$. Neodymium chloride was more volatile than lanthanum chloride. The evaporation rate of neodymium chloride varied from 0.20 to $4.55g/cm^2/h$. The evaporation rate of both chlorides are more than $1g/cm^2/h$ at $900^{\circ}C$. Even though the evaporation rates of both chlorides were less than that of the process salt, the contents of the lanthanide chlorides were small in the adhered salt. Therefore it can be concluded that $900^{\circ}C$ is suitable for the operation temperature of the salt distiller.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.924-933
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• 2015

The correlation of the isotopic composition of uranium, plutonium, neodymium, and cesium with the burnup for high burnup pressurized water reactor fuels irradiated in nuclear power reactors has been experimentally investigated. The total burnup was determined by Nd-148 and the fractional $^{235}U$ burnup was determined by U and Pu mass spectrometric methods. The isotopic compositions of U, Pu, Nd, and Cs after their separation from the irradiated fuel samples were measured using thermal ionization mass spectrometry. The contents of these elements in the irradiated fuel were determined through an isotope dilution mass spectrometric method using $^{233}U$, $^{242}Pu$, $^{150}Nd$, and $^{133}Cs$ as spikes. The activity ratios of Cs isotopes in the fuel samples were determined using gamma-ray spectrometry. The content of each element and its isotopic compositions in the irradiated fuel were expressed by their correlation with the total and fractional burnup, burnup parameters, and the isotopic compositions of different elements. The results obtained from the experimental methods were compared with those calculated using the ORIGEN-S code.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.116-121
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• 2020

In this paper, the recycling of waste Ni-MH battery by-products for electric vehicle is studied. Although rare earths elements still exist in waste Ni-MH battery by-products, they are not valuable as materials in the form of by-products (such as an insoluble substance). This study investigates the recovering of rare earth oxide for solvent extraction A/O ratio, substitution reaction, and reaction temperature, and scrubbing of the rare earth elements for high purity separation. The by-product (in the form of rare earth elements insoluble powder) is converted into hydroxide form using 30% sodium hydroxide solution. The remaining impurities are purified using the difference in solubility of oxalic acid. Subsequently, Yttrium is isolated by means of D2EHPA (Di-[2-ethylhexyl] phosphoric acid). After cerium is separated using potassium permanganate, lanthanum and neodymium are separated using PC88A (2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester) and it is calcinated at a temperature of 800 ℃. As a result of the physical and chemical measurement of the calcined lanthanum and neodymium powder, it is confirmed that the powder is a microsized porous powder in an oxide form of 99.9% or more. Rare earth oxides are recovered from Ni-MH battery by-products through two solvent extraction processes and one oxidation process. This study has regenerated lanthanum and neodymium oxide as a useful material.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.39-47
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• 2017

In this study, the precipitation of rare earth-sodium sulfate with sodium sulfate was conducted in order to separate rare earth from Fe in rare earth sulfate solution. Neodymium (Nd) was easily precipitated as Nd-sulfate salt with sodium sulfate, on the other hand, excessive sodium sulfate was needed for the precipitation of Dy-sulfate salt. Also neodymium not only promoted the precipitation of dysprosium sulfate salt but also increased recovery of dysprosium sulfate salt in sulfuric acid solution. At the condition of $60^{\circ}C$ precipitation temperature, 3 h reaction time, 7 equivalents sodium sulfate, the recovery of neodymium and dysprosium sulfate salt was 99.7% and 94.3% respectively from the sulfuric acid solution containing Nd of 23.39 mg/ml and Dy of 8.67 mg/ml. Lastly, from the results of separation of Dy to Nd by the method of sulfate double salt, the effect of salting out with NaCl is important to increase the grade of Dy, and 98.7% of Dy grade could be obtained in this study.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.259-264
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• 1993

Ion chromatographic method has been applied for burnup measurement of irradiated nuclear fuel by dynamic system using 1-octanesulfonate as a cation exchanger and $\alpha$-hydroxyisobutyric acid as an eluant. A number of elution techniques were evaluated for the optimum separation of plutonium, uranium and neodymium. These elements were individually separated and collected by gradient elution between 0.05 M and 0.40 M of $\alpha$-hydroxyisobutyric acid in a single column, and finally determined by isotope dilution mass spectrometry. The burnup data from this method were compared with those from conventional anion exchange method. The results showed a good agreement within 3.5 % of difference between two methods.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.67-75
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• 2015

The content distributions of some rare metals and rare earthe metals in coal ash (fly ash, bottom ash and pond ash) and leachate from coal-fired power plants were investigated. In case of Yttrium (Y) and Neodymium (Nd) which were strategic critical elements, their contents were ranged from about 23 ~ 75 mg/kg and it is shown they are worth to be developed for the recovery and separation method. Considering the annual amount of fly ash and bottom ash and pond ash, coal-fired power plants have great value of about 1,670 billion KRW and it is regards they are worthy as urban mines.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.327-335
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• 1997

The correlation of isotope composition of uranium, plutonium and neodymium with the burnup in M uranium dioxide fuel has been investigated experimentally. The total and fractional($^{235}$ U) burnup were determined by Nd-148 and, U and Pu mass spectrometric method respectively. The isotope compositions of these elements, after their separation from the fuel samples were measured by mass spectrometric. The content of the elements in the irradiated fuel ore determined by isotope dilution mass spectrometric method using $^{233}$ U, $^{242}$ Pu and $^{150}$ Nd as spikes. The content of plutonium in the irradiated fuel was expressed by the correlation with uranium isotopes. The correlations between isotope compositions themselves and the total and fractional burnup ore compared with those calculated from ORIGEN2 code.