Ytterbium is extracted on a commercial basis from such minerals as euxenite, monazite, and xenotime. These minerals also contain other rare earth elements or lanthanides that all share similar chemical characteristics with ytterbium. The similarity between the traits of these elements makes extraction and isolation of ytterbium highly complex; the complexity of the extraction process prevents ytterbium from being isolated on a small scale laboratory basis.
The first step of the ytterbium extraction process involves treating the minerals it occurs in with sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and sodium hydroxide. These treatments extract the lanthanide from their mineral compounds in a salt form. Further processing of ytterbium salts using repeated solvent extractions and ion exchange chromatography result in a ytterbium chloride compound. Electrolysis is needed to isolate pure ytterbium from the chlorine. The electrolysis process uses a mixture of molten ytterbium chloride in addition to sodium chloride, and the procedure takes place in a graphite cell.
