An Investigation of Lanthanum Recovery from an Aqueous Solution by Adsorption (Ion Exchange)

Lanthanum (La(III)) is one of the high-demand rare earth elements with applications in various products. However, La(III) in mining waste streams and electronic waste also poses environmental and health concerns. Therefore, the recovery of La(III) in the waste is needed. In the present study, the adsorption of La(III) with Dowex 50W-X8, Amberchrom50WX4, Amberlyst 15, and Amberchrom 50WX2 was evaluated using a shaker water bath. Dowex 50W-X8 was found to be the best adsorbent and was used to investigate the effect of the shaker speed (RPM = 50–150), adsorbent dosage (1.0–4.0 g), pH (2.0–7.0), and temperature (20–40 °C) on adsorption. La(III) adsorption was found to increase with the shaker speed, as expected. On the other hand, the adsorption capacity decreased with the adsorbent amount. Also, the highest La(III) adsorption was observed at pH = 6.0. La(III) percentage removal did not vary significantly with a temperature from 20 °C to 40 °C. However, the first-order kinetic rate constant decreased moderately with increases in temperature. The adsorption of La(III) by Dowex 50-X8 followed the Freundlich isotherm model better than the Langmuir model. In addition, the adsorption kinetics were represented well by the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. Moreover, enthalpy and Gibbs free energy changes were found to be negative, indicating an exothermic and thermodynamically favorable adsorption process.