China has taken a firm step towards sovereignty in mineral resources mineral resources with the commercial production of 99.9% pure rubidium chloride (RbCl) from brine. The achievement was announced by the Qinghai Salt Lake Institute (ISL), part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and represents a viable alternative to importing the metal from Canada and Zimbabwe.
Rubidium extraction from unconventional sources
The new process developed by Chinese researchers can recover rubidium from potassium chloride tailings containing as little as 0.001 % of the metal. This ability to extract and purify the element from such low concentrations represents a key technical breakthrough, especially considering that 97% of China’s reserves are in low-grade hard rock.
This metal is essential for technological sectors such as the manufacture of specialized specialized glass manufacturing, electronicselectronics and defense. In addition, rubidium ions are used to improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells and in high-precision atomic clocks. Domestic extraction reduces the vulnerability of the supply chain, in a context where the United States has classified rubidium as a critical mineral since 2022.
A predictive model and an integrated process
The ISL team developed a chemical model that predicts the behavior of rubidium in brines and low grade ores. brines and low-grade ores.. This knowledge enabled the design of a recovery system that includes washing, leaching, enrichment and purification. The practical application was carried out at Qarhan Lake, a salt-rich source in Qinghai Province.
A 2022 study led by Gao Dandan of ISL estimated that the cost of RbCl obtained by this method is one-third of the market price. The project is financially supported by CAS, Qinghai Province and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
The new process could position China as a key supplier of rubidium and reduce its dependence on external sources. According to Interesting Engineering, in 2021, the country imported more than 66% of its rubidium concentrate.. This development provides a competitive alternative in the race to secure strategic minerals in the face of growing geopolitical tensions.
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Source: scmp
Photo: Shutterstock
