Scandium metal has generated a lot of interest during the past years. This is due to the various crucial applications it has found ground in and the lack of production in countries outside China and Russia. Apart from rare earth ores, scandium is present in a variety of wastes and by-products originating from metallurgical processes and is not currently being sufficiently valorised. One of these processes is the production of titanium dioxide, which leaves an acidic iron chloride solution with a considerably high concentration of scandium (10–140 ppm) and is currently sold as a by-product. This research aims to recover scandium without affecting the solution greatly so that it can still be resold as a by-product after the treatment. To achieve this, two commercial ion-exchange resins, VP OC 1026 and TP 260, are used in the column setup. Their breakthrough curves are plotted with mathematical modelling and compared. Results indicate that VP OC 1026 resin is the most promising for Sc extraction with a column capacity of 1.46 mg/mL, but Zr, Ti, and V coextract have high capacities, while Fe does not interfere with the adsorption.

Scandium, a valuable element with restricted production sources mainly situated in China and Russia, is typically obtained as a by-product during the production of various materials. As the demand for scandium grows in the expanding aluminum and fuel cell industries, and with significant investments in rare earth mining in the USA and Australia, there is a need to explore alternative recovery sources. This research investigates the recovery of scandium from an acid pregnant leaching solution using ion exchange resins. The pregnant leaching solution was obtained after the leaching of bauxite residue with sulfuric acid. Commercial resins with different functional groups were tested for their performance in scandium extraction. In addition, the co-adsorption of impurities, such as iron and titanium, was studied. The feed solution consisted of 12.7 mg/L Sc and main impurities of 272 mg/L Fe and 33.6 mg/L Ti and was pretreated before the ion exchange process by acidification with sulfuric acid and iron powder addition to suppress silica gel formation and minimize the Fe(III) content in the solution accordingly. Among the tested resins, a D₂EHPA-impregnated resin had high selectivity for Sc towards Ti, while a monophosphonic resin was also a promising option since it had a higher capacity for Sc but co-extracted Ti. These findings offer promising opportunities for the recovery of scandium from acid leaching solutions and could contribute to addressing the growing demand for this valuable element.

Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted great interest in the field of extractive metallurgy mainly because they can be utilized in low temperature leaching processes where they exhibit selectivity and recyclability. A major drawback in mixed aqueous-IL systems, is IL dissolution in the aqueous phase, which leads to IL losses, increasing the overall processing cost. This study advances the method for recovering scandium (Sc) from bauxite residue (BR) using as leaching agent the IL betainium bistriflimide, [Hbet][Tf₂N] mixed with water, which has been reported in previous publications. Ionic liquid leachate (IL-PLS) was prepared by leaching BR with a mixture of [Hbet][Tf₂N]-H₂O and subjected to different stripping experiments using hydrochloric acid. The advancement, presented in this work, is related with the optimization of the metal extraction (stripping) from the IL-PLS, where an aqueous solution with high Sc concentration and minimum metal impurities and minimum IL co-extraction is produced. It is further proven that the metal cation extraction is defined by the stoichiometry of the acidic solution and the dissolution (losses) of the IL in the aqueous phase can be minimized by adjusting the volume ratio and the acid concentration. A two-step stripping process described, achieves the selective increase of Sc concentration by 8 times in the aqueous solution, while maintaining cumulative IL losses to similar levels as the optimum 1 step non-Sc selective stripping process.

This paper investigates the elution behavior of scandium from D₂EHPA (Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid)-impregnated resins that proceed with metal loading from acidic chloride solutions. D₂EHPA resins stem from their recognized selectivity for Sc extraction from acidic solutions. This study focuses on the elution process after ion-exchange extraction and examines various elution systems to achieve selective Sc recovery. Among the tested elution media, fluoride-based systems were proven effective for Sc desorption. The elution of the resins was demonstrated in a column set-up, where complete and selective elution of Sc was achieved. Τhis study contributes to the advancement of Sc extraction methods from chloride solutions, offering valuable insights for industrial applications, especially emphasizing the importance of optimizing the elution step for achieving efficient recovery of Sc.