▎ 摘　　要

NOVELTY - Recovering an elemental rare earth metal involves placing a rare earth-containing material comprising a rare earth metal in a reaction solution (104) comprising a reducing agent and a nonaqueous solvent comprising an ionic liquid, reducing the rare earth metal with the reducing agent to form a metallic rare earth metal and cations of the reducing agent, transferring the cations of the reducing agent from the reaction solution to an electrochemical cell (110) through an ion exchange membrane (120), and reducing the cations of the reducing agent in the electrochemical cell. USE - Recovering elemental rare earth metal. Uses include but are not limited to phosphor powders of fluorescent lighting and light emitting diode, catalyst, magnet, electronic device, illuminated screens of electronic device, rechargeable battery, and cellular phone. ADVANTAGE - The method facilitates reduction of rare earth metals using less energy and lower temperatures, emits less pollution, and does not form hydrogen fluoride gas or toxic fluoride salts. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for the following: (1) System (100) for recovering elemental rare earth metal from the rare earth-containing material, which comprises a reaction chamber (102) comprising a reaction solution comprising the rare earth-containing material, the reducing agent, and the nonaqueous solvent comprising an ionic liquid, an electrochemical cell comprising the nonaqueous solvent and an electrode configured to regenerate the reducing agent and arranged adjacent to the reaction chamber, and an ion exchange membrane between the reaction chamber and the electrochemical cell, in which the ion exchange membrane configured to selectively allow passage of cations of the reducing agent from the reaction chamber to the electrochemical cell, and (2) Formation of elemental rare earth metal, which involves reducing a rare earth metal of the rare earth-containing material in a reaction chamber comprising a reaction solution comprising the rare earth-containing material, reducing agent, and nonaqueous solvent comprising an ionic liquid to form the elemental rare earth metal and cations of the reducing agent, and reducing the cations of the reducing agent to regenerate the reducing agent in an electrochemical cell isolated from the rare earth-containing material. DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows a simplified schematic view of the system for recovering rare earth metals from the rare earth-containing material. System (100) Reaction chamber (102) Reaction solution (104) Electrochemical cell (110) Ion exchange membrane (120)