Extraction of niobium, yttrium, and cerium from a low-grade niobium-bearing ore by roasting（NH4）2SO4-Na2SO4-H2SO4 system

A novel process of extracting niobium, yttrium,and cerium from a low-grade niobium-bearing ore by the roasting（NH4）2SO4-Na2SO4-H2SO4 system was experimentally studied. The influences of various factors,such as roasting temperature, roasting time, mass ratio of agents-to-ore and particle size fraction on the extraction of valuable metals were comprehensively investigated. It is found that the roasting Na2SO4-H2SO4 system is effective to extract the niobium, yttrium, and cerium. The obtained optimum conditions for the extraction of Nb, Y, and Ce are roasting temperature of 300 °C, roasting time of 3 h, mass ratio of Na2SO4：H2SO4：Ore of 0.5：1.0：1.0, and particle size fraction of-74 lm（~95 %）. Under the optimum condition, the maximum recovery of Nb, Y, and Ce can reach90.53 %, 92.15 %, and 98.04 %, respectively. All the results generated from this study will provide the fundamentals for Nb, Y, and Ce extraction from a niobiumbearing ore with low-grade.