Abstract:Enrichment and distribution of rare earth (RE) during acid leaching of RE-bearing phosphorus concentrates under different initial phosphoric acid concentration and ratio of liquid to solid (L/S) were investigated. The results show that high initial phosphoric acid concentration and L/S can improve recovery of RE from solution, but enrichment RE in solution tends to rise firstly and then drop along with rising of L/S. Total recovery of ∑REO and P2O5 is 68.01% and 90% above respectively under the optimum leaching conditions including initial phosphoric acid concentration of 25%, excessive coefficient of sulfate of 1.0, L/S of 6, reaction temperature of 75 ℃, reaction duration of 3 h, and slurry concentration of 58%.