Pyrometallurgical Treatment of Apatite Concentrate with the Objective of Rare Earth Element Recovery: Part II

• Published in: Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy
• Main Authors: Kennedy, Mark William, Tianming, Sun, Yurramendi, Lourdes, Arnout, Sander, Aune, Ragnhild Elizabeth, Tranell, Gabriella
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Verlag 2017
• Subjects: Kiruna; Luossavaara
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2478609; https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-017-0148-y

Apatite, Ca5(PO4)3F, is a useful raw material for the production of both elemental phosphorus and phosphoric acid, and the mine tailings present at Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) in Kiruna, Sweden, represent a significant potential European source of apatite if upgraded to a concentrate. In the present study, pilot apatite concentrate made from the LKAB tailings has been pyrometallurgically treated using carbon to extract phosphorus without fluxing at temperatures exceeding 1800 °C, with the ultimate objective of recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from the resulting slag/residue phases. Experimental behavior has been modeled using equilibrium thermodynamic predictions performed using HSC®. A process is proposed, and mass–energy balance presented, for the simultaneous production of P4 and CaC2 (ultimately for acetylene, C2H2, and PVC production) from apatite, producing a lime residue significantly enriched in REEs. Possible implications to kiln-based processing of apatite are also discussed. publishedVersion © The Author(s) 2017. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)