Cetylpyridinium Bromide/Polyvinyl Chloride for Substantially Efficient Capture of Rare Earth Elements from Chloride Solution

A new sorbent cetylpyridinium bromide/polyvinylchloride (CPB/PVC) was prepared and tested to extract rare earth elements (REEs) from their chloride solutions. It was identified by FTIR, TGA, SEM, EDX, and XRD. The impact of various factors such as pH, RE ion initial concentration, contacting time, and dose amount via sorption process was inspected. The optimum pH was 6.0, and the equilibrium contact time was reached at 60 min at 25 degrees C. The prepared adsorbent (CPB/PVC) uptake capacity was 182.6 mg/g. The adsorption of RE ions onto the CPB/PVC sorbent was found to fit the Langmuir isotherm as well as pseudo-second-order models well. In addition, the thermodynamic parameters of RE ion sorption were found to be exothermic and spontaneous. The desorption of RE ions from the loaded CPB/PVC sorbent was investigated. It was observed that the optimum desorption was achieved at 1.0 M HCl for 60 min contact time at ambient room temperature and a 1:60 solid: liquid phase ratio (S:L). As a result, the prepared CPB/PVC sorbent was recognized as a competitor sorbent for REEs.

Automated summary

A new sorbent CPB/PVC was prepared and tested for extracting rare earth elements from chloride solutions. The study investigated the impact of various factors on the sorption process and found the optimal conditions. The experimental results showed that the prepared CPB/PVC sorbent had good adsorption performance and could be used for desorption of rare earth elements. This is of significant importance for the extraction and application of rare earth elements.