Recovery of cerium from glass polishing slurry

Cerium was extracted from rare earth slurry waste used for polishing a glass substrate. Initially, glass frit and flocculant were removed by froth flotation and dissolution. The recovered rare earth slurry exhibited almost the same particle size distribution as original slurry, which could be reused as slurry for glass polishing. From the rare earth slurry, the cerium solution was obtained by an oxidative thermal treatment and subsequent chemical leaching. The cerium solution was further purified up to 94% by selective precipitation of rare earth species.