Team Makes Progress on Rare Earth Tailings Recycling & Mine Wastewater Treatment

Recently, the research team led by Professor Xie Xianchuan from our school has achieved significant research progress in the resource utilization of rare earth tailings and the treatment of mine ammonia nitrogen wastewater. The relevant research findings, titled Rare earth-derived conductive zeolite electrodes empower NH₄⁺ recovery from mining wastewater via FCDI and their application as ammonia release fertilizer, have been published in the internationally renowned journal Water Research (2026, 195: 125581). This journal is a Q1 TOP journal listed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and included in the Nature Index. Nanchang University serves as the primary completion institution and the sole corresponding institution of this paper.

Stockpiled tailings and severe pollution from high-concentration ammonia nitrogen wastewater generated during rare earth mining are major bottlenecks restricting the green and low-carbon transformation of the industry. To address this technical challenge, the research team put forward an innovative concept of treating waste with waste and turning waste into valuable resources. Using rare earth tailings as raw materials, conductive zeolite materials were synthesized via high-temperature calcination and hydrothermal reactions. The materials were further deployed in an FCDI system to realize the efficient recovery and resource reuse of ammonia nitrogen from mine wastewater.

Experimental results demonstrate that the conductive zeolite electrodes exhibit outstanding performance in ammonia nitrogen removal. In simulated wastewater, the ammonium ion removal rate reaches 97.22%, with an average adsorption capacity of 195.45 mg/g, far outperforming conventional electrode materials such as activated carbon and mesoporous carbon. When applied to real rare earth mine wastewater, the system maintains an ammonia nitrogen removal rate of 90.49%, and 79.52% of the recovered ammonia nitrogen can be stably retained within the zeolite matrix, which fully verifies the engineering practicability of this technology. Notably, the conductive zeolite saturated with adsorbed ammonia nitrogen has heavy metal contents far below national standards for fertilizers, enabling its direct application as slow-release ammonia fertilizer. This study constructs an integrated circular system covering tailings resource recovery, wastewater purification and agricultural reuse, offering a novel strategy for solid waste disposal, water pollution control and resource recycling in the rare earth industry.

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Innovative Leading Talents Program of Jiangxi Provincial Double Thousand Talents Program. Xiong Wenrong, a master’s student, and Zhang Yalan, a doctoral student, from the School of Resources and Environment are the co-first authors, while Professor Xie Xianchuan is the corresponding author of the paper.

Paper DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.125581