Description
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Erbium is a lanthanide that has a silvery white appearance in its natural solid state. It is soft and stable in the air, and has lower oxidation characteristics as compared to other rare earth metals. Erbium has an atomic weight of 167.259, a melting point of 2784 °F, and a boiling point of 5194 °F. Some common uses of erbium include: as a neutron absorber, as a component in some alloys to improve workability, as a coloring in glass and porcelain, as the pink color in cubic zirconium and other cheaper forms of jewelry, and as a component in optical communications.
Isolation
Erbium does not occur in its free state in nature, but it does occur frequently in mineral and sand ores with other rare earth elements.
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The isolation procedures that are used to extract erbium from the ores it occurs in are highly complex. The complexity of these procedures are due to the fact that erbium only occurs along with other rare elements or lanthanides; these elements all have similar characteristics and so they are not easily separated. The many different chemical reactions that must be performed to isolate pure erbium do not allow for erbium isolation on a small scale laboratory basis.
Erbium can be isolated from monazite sand ores using ion exchange procedures. Erbium is also extracted from xenotime and euxenite minerals. Ion adsorption procedures are also used to separate erbium out of specific types of clays that it occurs in. The extraction of erbium from mineral sources begins with treating the minerals with sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and sodium hydroxide. Further processes using solvent extraction, ion exchange chromatography, and heated reactions with calcium are used to yield pure erbium.