IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
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국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
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출원번호 |
US-0163325
(2011-06-17)
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등록번호 |
US-8216532
(2012-07-10)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
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출원인 / 주소 |
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대리인 / 주소 |
Greer, Burns & Crain, Ltd.
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인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
15 인용 특허 :
54 |
초록
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Processes described include reacting a fresh or spent catalyst, or sorbent, with a solution containing an extracting agent (such as an acid or a base). Preferably, the catalyst contains both alumina and a molecular sieve (or a sorbent), and the reaction is performed under relatively mild conditions
Processes described include reacting a fresh or spent catalyst, or sorbent, with a solution containing an extracting agent (such as an acid or a base). Preferably, the catalyst contains both alumina and a molecular sieve (or a sorbent), and the reaction is performed under relatively mild conditions such that the majority of the base material does not dissolve into the solution. Thus, the catalyst can be re-used, and in certain instances the performance of the catalyst even improves, with or without re-incorporating certain of the metals back into the catalyst. Additionally, metals contained in the catalyst, such as Na, Mg, Al, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, V, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr, Zn Sb, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pb, or their equivalent oxides, can be removed from the catalyst. Some of the metals that are removed are relatively valuable (such as the rare earth elements of La, Ce, Pr and Nd).
대표청구항
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1. A method of producing a resulting solution including at least one rare earth element, the method comprising the steps of: providing a first sample of a rare earth containing material having the at least one rare earth element therein;reacting the first sample of the rare earth containing material
1. A method of producing a resulting solution including at least one rare earth element, the method comprising the steps of: providing a first sample of a rare earth containing material having the at least one rare earth element therein;reacting the first sample of the rare earth containing material with an extracting agent to extract at least a portion of the at least one rare earth element from the first sample of the rare earth containing material;separating the reacted first sample, from which has been extracted at least some of the at least one rare earth element previously associated therewith, from the extracting agent;repeating the reacting step for multiple iterations, designated as (n) iterations where (n) is a whole number, with an extracting agent that includes at least some of the rare earth element, but with a sample of a rare earth containing material that differs from the first sample of the rare earth containing material, for at least some of said multiple iterations of said reacting step, to further enrich the amount of the at least one rare earth element in the resulting solution;repeating the separating step for (n) iterations;obtaining the resulting solution, which includes the at least one rare earth element extracted from the rare earth containing material during the multiple iterations of said reacting step; andfurther comprising a step of heating said rare earth containing material and/or said extracting agent prior to the reacting step. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said heat is applied such that the liquid solution reaches a maximum temperature between the range of at least approximately 45° C. and approximately 130° C. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rare earth containing material is a sorbent containing material. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein all of the samples of the rare earth containing material used during the multiple iterations of the reacting step include the same rare earth element as the first sample of the rare earth containing material. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least some of the samples of rare earth containing material used during the multiple iterations of the reacting step have essentially the same chemical composition as the chemical composition of the first sample of the rare earth containing material. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent used in at least one of the multiple iterations of said reacting step is the extracting agent previously used in an earlier iteration of the reacting step, andwherein the earlier iteration was the immediately preceding iteration of the reacting step. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent used in each of the multiple iterations of said reacting step is the extracting agent previously used in the immediately preceding iteration of the reacting step. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 6 or greater than approximately 8;the rare earth containing material is a molecular sieve containing material; andwherein during each successive iteration of the reacting step, the amount of the rare earth element in the molecular sieve containing material used during a particular iteration of the reacting step is greater than or approximately equal to the amount of rare earth element in the molecular sieve containing material of the immediately preceding iteration of the reacting step. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the rare earth containing material is in the form of a powder or an extrudate. 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is a solution selected from the group consisting of: ammonium citrate, ammonium hydroxide, ammonium chloride, and ammonium sulfate. 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent includes an acid selected from the group consisting of: maleic acid, formic acid, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and acetic acid. 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is an acidic solution that includes nitric acid. 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 6 or greater than approximately 8;the rare earth containing material is a molecular sieve containing material; andwherein at least 20 grams of rare earth containing material are provided for each 100 milliliters of the extracting agent. 14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 6 or greater than approximately 8;the rare earth containing material is a molecular sieve containing material; andwherein the resulting solution has an acidic or basic concentration of between approximately 0.1 molar and approximately 25 molar. 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 6 or greater than approximately 8;the rare earth containing material is a molecular sieve containing material; andwherein the molecular sieve containing material is a zeolite containing material. 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the zeolite containing material includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: silicon, phosphorus and aluminum. 17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the molecular sieve containing material is a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst, andwherein the FCC catalyst is a spent FCC catalyst. 18. The method according to claim 1, wherein (n) is greater than or equal to 2. 19. The method according to claim 1, wherein (n) is greater than or equal to 300. 20. The method according to claim 1, wherein said resulting solution, after performing said reacting step multiple times, includes at least 30% on an oxide basis, of the at least one rare earth element that was extracted from the rare earth containing material. 21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of rinsing the reacted molecular sieve containing material with a rinsing liquid between at least some of the iterations of said reacting step; and wherein said rinsing liquid comprises water. 22. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of rinsing the reacted molecular sieve containing material with a rinsing liquid between at least some of the iterations of said reacting step; and wherein said rinsing liquid comprises an acid containing liquid. 23. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 6 or greater than approximately 8;the rare earth containing material is a molecular sieve containing material; andfurther comprising a step of utilizing a centrifuge to separate the extracting agent from the molecular sieve containing material between at least some of the iterations of said reacting step. 24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 6 or greater than approximately 8;the rare earth containing material is a molecular sieve containing material; andfurther comprising a step of utilizing filtration to separate the extracting agent from the molecular sieve containing material between at least some of the iterations of said reacting step. 25. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracting agent is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 6 or greater than approximately 8;the rare earth containing material is a molecular sieve containing material; andfurther comprising a step of utilizing decanting to separate the extracting agent from the molecular sieve containing material between at least some of the iterations of said reacting step. 26. A method of recovering one or more rare earth elements from a rare earth containing material, wherein said method comprises the steps of: providing the rare earth containing material having aluminum and at least one rare earth element therein, wherein the weight percentage of the aluminum, as its oxide equivalent, is defined as AO% and the weight percentage of the at least one rare earth element, as its oxide equivalent, is defined as RO%; andreacting the rare earth containing material with a solution to extract a relatively large proportion of at least a portion of the at least one rare earth element from the rare earth containing material, while extracting only a relatively moderate proportion of the aluminum, such that the resulting weight percentage of the at least one rare earth element, as its oxide equivalent, remaining in the rare earth containing material, defined as RF%, and the resulting weight percentage of aluminum, as its oxide equivalent, remaining in the rare earth containing material, defined as AF%, satisfy the following relationships:RF% is less than or equal to approximately 0.4 RO%;AF% is greater than or equal to approximately 0.5 AO%; andwherein the solution is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 3 or greater than approximately 10. 27. The method according to claim 26, further comprising a step of heating the solution, which is in the form of a slurry, during the reacting step. 28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the heating step results in increasing the temperature of the solution to a maximum temperature within the range of at least approximately 45° C. and approximately 130° C. 29. The method according to claim 26, further comprising a step of heating the rare earth containing material and/or the solution prior to the reacting step. 30. The method according to claim 26, wherein the molecular sieve containing material is a zeolite containing material, and wherein the zeolite includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: silicon, phosphorus and aluminum. 31. The method according to claim 26, wherein the molecular sieve containing material includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of silicon, phosphorus and aluminum. 32. The method according to claim 26, wherein the molecular sieve containing material is a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst. 33. The method according to claim 32, wherein the FCC catalyst is a spent FCC catalyst. 34. The method according to claim 26, wherein the solution comprises nitric acid. 35. The method according to claim 26, wherein the solution comprises hydrochloric acid. 36. The method according to claim 26, wherein the solution is selected from the group consisting of: maleic acid, formic acid, sulfuric acid and acetic acid. 37. The method according to claim 26, wherein the solution is selected from the group consisting of ammonium citrate, ammonium hydroxide, ammonium chloride, and ammonium sulfate. 38. The method according to claim 26, wherein the rare earth containing material is a sorbent containing material. 39. A method of recovering one or more rare earth elements from a rare earth containing material, wherein said method comprises the steps of: providing the rare earth containing material, of a weight WRE, having aluminum and at least one rare earth element therein, wherein the weight percentage of the aluminum, represented as its weight percent oxide equivalent Al2O3, is defined as AO% and the weight percentage of the at least one rare earth element, represented as its weight percent oxide equivalent, is defined as RO%; andreacting the rare earth containing material with a solution, of a volume VS, to extract a majority of the at least one rare earth element from the rare earth containing material, while extracting no more than half of the aluminum, such that the resulting weight percentage of the at least one rare earth element, as its oxide equivalent, remaining in the rare earth containing material, defined as Af%, and the resulting weight percentage of aluminum, as its oxide equivalent, remaining in the rare earth containing material, defined as Rf%, satisfy the following relationships: x=RoAo×Af-AoRf-Rowhere x is less than or equal to about 0.8; and y=WRE (in grams)/VS (in milliliters),wherein y is greater than or equal to about 0.03; andwherein the solution is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 3 or greater than approximately 10. 40. The method according to claim 39, wherein: the solution is a liquid solution having a pH of either less than approximately 6 or greater than approximately 8; andthe rare earth containing material is a molecular sieve containing material. 41. The method according to claim 40, wherein the molecular sieve containing material is a zeolite containing material. 42. The method according to claim 41, wherein the zeolite includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: silicon, phosphorus and aluminum. 43. The method according to claim 40, wherein the molecular sieve containing material includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: silicon, phosphorus and aluminum. 44. The method according to claim 40, wherein the molecular sieve containing material is a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst. 45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the FCC catalyst is a spent FCC catalyst. 46. The method according to claim 39, wherein the solution comprises nitric acid. 47. The method according to claim 39, wherein the solution comprises hydrochloric acid. 48. The method according to claim 39, wherein the solution is selected from the group consisting of: maleic acid, formic acid, sulfuric acid and acetic acid. 49. The method according to claim 39, wherein the solution is selected from the group consisting of ammonium citrate, ammonium hydroxide, ammonium chloride, and ammonium sulfate. 50. The method according to claim 39, wherein the at least one rare earth element comprises lanthanum and/or a compound including lanthanum. 51. The method according to claim 39, wherein the at least one rare earth element is selected from the group consisting of cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, and alloys thereof.
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