Advances in adsorption of rare earth ions by agricultural wastes

As rare earth elements (REEs) are widely used in industry, it has brought harm to human health and ecological environment, which has attracted wide attention. Compared with other traditional water treatment methods, the adsorption method has many advantages, such as better effect, simpler operation and lower cost. It is one of the most promising technologies to eliminate the hazard of rare earth ions of wastewater. The adsorbent for agricultural wastes is cheap, for agricultural by-products, and some agricultural wastes have large adsorption capacity and fast reaction rate when adsorbing rare earth ions. Research progress of adsorption mechanisms between agricultural wastes and rare earth ions, the adsorption models and adsorption of rare earth ions are reviewed in this paper. Meanwhile, the development direction of adsorbing rare earth ions by agricultural waste is prospected.