Rare earth metals production using alternative feedstock that eliminates HF

Anirudha Karati, Harshida Parmar, Trevor Riedemann, Matthew Besser, Denis Prodius and Ikenna C. Nlebedim ()
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Anirudha Karati: Ames National Laboratory
Harshida Parmar: Ames National Laboratory
Trevor Riedemann: Ames National Laboratory
Matthew Besser: Ames National Laboratory
Denis Prodius: Ames National Laboratory
Ikenna C. Nlebedim: Ames National Laboratory

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract This work reports the successful production of rare earth (RE) metal using Na-RE-F. Presently, RE metals are primarily produced using RE-fluoride due to its higher air and moisture stability compared to RE-chloride. However, its preparation requires the use of corrosive and hazardous chemicals, such as hydrofluoric acid (HF) or ammonium bifluoride (NH4HF2). The present study demonstrates that Na-RE-F is an alternative salt to the typically used RE-fluoride. The Na-RE-F for this work is produced via a scalable hydrometallurgical approach using three different RE salts as feedstock, including acetate, nitrate, and chloride. HF is neither used nor generated during the salt preparation process. Furthermore, the Na-RE-F powder dries in air (without dry HF), and only water evolves during the drying process. Analyses of the Na-RE-F show that NaF liberates as a flux during the heating process, which lowers the salt reduction temperature to

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59468-w

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