The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 29, 2018
Filed:
Mar. 15, 2013
Imerys Pigments, Inc., Roswell, GA (US);
Jondahl Davis, Sandersville, GA (US);
Robert J. Pruett, Milledgeville, GA (US);
Imerys USA, Inc., Roswell, GA (US);
Abstract
A method for obtaining rare earth element compositions may include providing a dispersed aqueous suspension of a particulate material including at least one rare earth element compound and kaolinite. The method may further include adding to the suspension a selective flocculation polymer that facilitates separation of at least a portion of the at least one rare earth element compound from the kaolinite by flocculating the kaolinite and allowing particles of the rare earth element compound to be or remain deflocculated. The method may also include allowing the suspension containing the polymer to separate in a selective flocculation separator into layers including a flocculated product layer and a deflocculated layer containing the portion of the at least one rare earth element compound. The method may further include extracting each of the separated layers from the separator. The rare earth element compound may include LaO, CeO, NdO, or YO.