METHOD FOR SEPARATING RARE-EARTH ELEMENTS FROM IRON, AND RARE-EARTH ELEMENT-CONTAINING SLAG

摘要

This method for separating rare-earth elements from iron involves melting a material containing rare-earth elements and iron together with an alkali silicate flux in a metal-silicon melt or an iron-silicon alloy melt to form an alkali silicate slag in which the rare-earth elements have been incorporated, so that the rare-earth element-containing slag is separated from the iron silicon alloy. The method is characterized in that the heating and melting are performed in an oxidizing atmosphere so as to inhibit the volatilization of alkali components contained in the flux, and the rare-earth element-containing slag thus formed has a molar ratio of SiO₂/Na₂O of 2.1 or less.