Emission pollutants in rare earths hydrometallurgy industry have been the main constraint restricting its development. Membrane technology, as a sustainable green strategy with easy operation, is receiving great attentions in metal separation and wastewater treatment. Numerous membrane strategies for rare earths separation have been designed but few reviews could be found. The present article makes a state-of-the-art summary on current membrane techniques in rare earths separation including both liquid and non-liquid membranes. Further understandings of the crucial scientific and technical issues, such as REEs transport features, extraction performances, separation efficiency, transport models and mechanisms, membrane stability, operation modes and transport apparatus were discussed in details. Evaluations of each strategy and critical perspectives for future researches were suggested. Novel developments in non-liquid membrane techniques, such as polymer inclusion membranes, imprinted membranes, nanocomposite membranes and metal-organic framework membranes, were recommended and highlighted as potential strategies for rare earths separation in the near future. We hope that this overview would be a stimulator providing more opportunities for reference in membrane techniques for rare earths separation.

稀土湿法冶金工业中的排放污染物一直是制约其发展的主要制约因素。膜技术作为一种易于操作的可持续绿色战略，在金属分离和废水处理中受到了极大的关注。已经设计了许多用于稀土分离的膜策略，但是几乎没有发现任何评论。本文对包括液体和非液体膜在内的稀土分离中的当前膜技术进行了最新的总结。详细讨论了对关键科学和技术问题的进一步理解，例如稀土元素的迁移特征，提取性能，分离效率，迁移模型和机理，膜稳定性，操作模式和迁移装置。提出了对每种策略的评估和对未来研究的批判性观点。推荐了非液体膜技术的新进展，例如聚合物包裹体膜，压印膜，纳米复合膜和金属有机骨架膜，并将其作为在不久的将来分离稀土的潜在策略。我们希望本概述将成为一个刺激器，为稀土分离的膜技术提供更多的参考机会。