Rare earth

The Association of China Rare Earth Industry has confirmed that a technology project from China Northern Rare Earth will be able to reduce emissions and costs, and has reached an international level, according to a media report. 

The technology, which has already been applied at several large rare-earth plants, can continuously produce light rare earth carbonates, according to the report. The technology can slash carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent and water pollution by 40 percent. It is also able to reduce the electricity needed in the process by 29 percent. 

In rare-earth plants where the technology has already been applied, production costs have reportedly been slashed by 100 million yuan ($14.29 million).

Light rare earth carbonates are intermediate raw materials used in a variety of rare-earth products, according to experts from the Association of China Rare Earth Industry quoted in the report. 

While light rare earth materials have a wide range of uses and their market demand has been increasing, the traditional production process using ammonium bicarbonate to prepare rare earth carbonates has been problematic, as it usually produces large amounts of ammonia nitrogen in wastewater. 

Due to environmental concerns, China has been restricting the output of rare earths. On Wednesday the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that the 2020 national quota for rare-earth ores is 140,000 tons. The rare-earth quota was 120,000 tons in 2018 and 132,000 tons in 2019.

Global Times