Abstract In this study, recycling of spent tubular lights comprising about 40 % rare earth (Y, La, Ce, Eu, Tb) elements are explored. In this study, two different processing routes comprising leaching followed by microwave treatment, and vice versa are investigated. Leaching of Eu-Y values followed by microwave treatment of leach residue with sodium hydroxide was found promising for rare earth extraction. Different routes comprising one step, two-step, and acid baking in the microwave were compared based on the recovery of rare earth values. Two-step process consisting of acid leaching followed by NaOH microwave treatment of leach residue was found best concerning overall extraction and separation of Y-Eu and La-Ce-Tb oxides. The material balance shows that 50 g mixed oxide of Y, Eu, and ∼8 g of La, Ce, Eu, Tb, Y mixed oxide with purity over 97 % can be recovered from 100 units of discarded tubular lights. Finally, it is concluded that microwave processing can be employed for the recovery of rare earth values from abundantly available discarded tubular lights.

中文翻译：

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用于提取稀土价值的废弃管状灯的快速微波处理

摘要 在这项研究中，探索了包含约 40% 稀土（Y、La、Ce、Eu、Tb）元素的废管状灯的回收利用。在这项研究中，研究了两种不同的加工路线，包括浸出和微波处理，反之亦然。发现 Eu-Y 值浸出，然后用氢氧化钠微波处理浸出残渣，被发现有希望用于稀土提取。根据稀土值的回收率，比较了一步法、二步法和微波酸焙等不同工艺路线。在 Y-Eu 和 La-Ce-Tb 氧化物的整体提取和分离方面，发现由酸浸和 NaOH 微波处理浸出残渣组成的两步​​法效果最好。物料平衡表明 50 g Y、Eu 和 ~8 g La、Ce、Eu、Tb 的混合氧化物，从 100 台废弃管状灯中可以回收纯度超过 97% 的 Y 混合氧化物。最后，得出的结论是，微波处理可用于从大量可用的废弃管状灯中回收稀土价值。