Professor Binks’ research is primarily concerned with materials chemistry. He is a physical chemist with research interests in surfactants, foams, emulsions and colloidal particles at interfaces. His work looks at the fundamental science that underpins the behaviour of formulations. As such, it has implications for industry applications in areas as diverse as food, cosmetics, oil…

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In today’s world where the technology of road vehicles is moving ahead at racing pace, it is important that these exciting new electronic features are safe. A series of International Standards for functional…

Developing software is not always a straightforward procedure. An International Standard to apply the principles of the world’s most widely used quality management system enables engineers to smooth out…

Introduction It is reasonable to say that there is a very natural connection between food and encapsulation, considering the fact that many traditional foods from different cuisines around the world bear unmistakable similarities to modern encapsulation products. For example, the traditional Chinese food tangyuan can be regarded as macro-capsules of flavoured fillings. It is therefore…

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International Standards help to mainstream climate change actions in transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future, according to leading sustainability experts who will speak at an ISO side event…

They are a seal of approval that producers of consumer goods have paid their dues – and that the products are the real McCoy. Excise stamps not only ensure government revenues, they also help detect the…

ISO has partnered with the World Bank Group (WBG) to support ISO member national standards bodies in developing countries, based on their needs, with the implementation of the World Trade Organization…

This study was a small part of the EURARE project concerned with the processing of eudialyte concentrates from Greenland and Norra Kärr, Sweden. Eudialyte is a potential rare earth elements (REE) primary resource due to its good solubility in acid, low radioactivity and relatively high REE content. The main challenge is avoiding the formation of silica gel, which is non-filterable when using acid to extract REE. Some methods have been studied to address this issue and, based on previous research, this paper examined a complete hydrometallurgical treatment of eudialyte concentrate to the production of REE carbonate as a preliminary product. Dry digestion with concentrated hydrochloric acid (10 M) and subsequent water leaching of the treated eudialyte concentrate resulted in high REE extraction while avoiding gel formation. Experiments were performed at a small scale to obtain the optimal parameters. After the first two stages, 88.8% REE was leached under the optimal conditions (HCl:concentrate ratio 1.25:1, digestion time 40 min, water:concentrate ratio 2:1, leaching temperature 20–25°C and leaching time 30 min). After obtaining the pregnant leach solution, preliminary removal of impurities by a precipitation method was examined as well. When adjusting the pH to ~4.0 using calcium carbonate, zirconium, aluminium and iron were removed at 99.1%, 90.0% and 53.1%, respectively, with a REE loss of 2.1%. Finally, a pilot plant test was performed to demonstrate the feasibility and recovery performance under optimal parameters. The material balance in the upscaling test was also calculated to offer some references for future industrial application. A REE carbonate containing 30.0% total REE was finally produced, with an overall REE recovery yield of 85.5%.

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