Rare earth phosphate ore
In addition to being present in various rare earth minerals, a significant portion of rare earth elements in nature also coexist with apatite and phosphate rock minerals. Due to the close ionic radius of rare earths (0.848-0.106 nm) and Ca2+(0.106 nm), rare earths exist in phosphate rocks in a homomorphic manner.

Molecular sieve catalysts made of rare earths have the advantages of high activity, good selectivity, and strong resistance to heavy metal poisoning, thus replacing aluminum silicate catalysts for petroleum catalytic cracking processes; In the production process of synthetic ammonia, a small amount of rare earth nitrate is used as a co catalyst, with a dosage 1.5 times greater than that of nickel aluminum catalyst; In the process of synthesizing butadiene rubber and isoprene rubber, the use of rare earth cycloalkanoate triisobutylaluminum catalyst results in excellent product performance, with advantages such as less equipment adhesion, stable operation, and short post-processing steps; Composite rare earth oxides can also be used as catalysts for exhaust gas purification in internal combustion engines, and cerium cycloalkanoate can also be used as paint drying agents.



Classified by mineral characteristics:
Cerium group (light rare earths) - lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, and europium;
Yttrium group (heavy rare earths) - gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, and scandium