“…In the present study, the starting solution was generated by the same conditions as our previous studies, using a liquid/solid ratio of 4 mL/g, a sulfuric acid concentration of 87.5 g/L, a hydrofluoric acid concentration of 15 g/L, a sodium hypochlorite concentration of 1 g/L, a temperature of 95˝C, and a reaction time of 6 h [24]. The composition of the leach solution generated from black shale from Hunan Province, China, is listed in Table 1. D2EHPA (di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid) and TBP (tri-n-butylphosphate), supplied by Shanghai Rare-Earth Chemical Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China, were used without further purification.…”