Bastnasite europium

As with other rare-earth metals, except for lanthanum, europium ignites in air at about 150 to I8O0C. Europium is about as hard as lead and is quite ductile. It is the most reactive of the rare-earth metals, quickly oxidizing in air. It resembles calcium in its reaction with water. Bastnasite and monazite are the principal ores containing europium. 

Europium is the 13th most abundant of all the rare-earths and the 55th most abundant element on Earth. More europium exists on Earth than all the gold and silver deposits. Like many other rare-earths, europium is found in deposits of monazite, bastnasite, cerite, and allanite ores located in the river sands of India and Brazil and in the beach sand of Florida. It has proven difficult to separate europium from other rare-earths. Today, the ion-exchange... 

Several other processes also are apphed for the commercial production of europium. In general, all processes are based upon the initial steps involving opening the mineral (bastnasite or monazite) with sulfuric acid or sodium hydroxide, often followed by roasting and solubihzation. In one such process after separation of cerium, the soluble rare earth chloride mixture in HCl solution is pH adjusted and treated with bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate to obtain europium sesquioxide, EuaOs. 

As a metal, europium is very reactive so that one usually finds it under its trivalent, triply oxidized form (Eu3+ ion) in oxides or salts. A divalent form (Eu2+) also displays some stability. Two minerals that contain many of the lanthanide elements, which are separated by liquid-liquid extraction, are commercially important monazite (found in Australia, Brazil, India, Malaysia, and South Africa) and bastnasite (found in China and the United States). 

The most common ores of europium are monazite, bastnasite, and gadolinite. 

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