Investigation of rare earth elements from coal and coal byproducts
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Date
2023
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Abstract
Rare earth elements (REE) are considered critical raw materials essential for numerous clean technologies. As the discrepancy, their supply and demand increase globally. It is conceivable to recover REEs from secondary sources in order to close the gap. The coal, fly ash, and bottom ashes are collected from Baganuur Mining, Thermal Power Plant IV, and Baganuur Thermal Plant, respectively. The TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyzer (TIMA) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) were used to characterize the mineralogy of coal, fly ash, and bottom ashes and further investigation of REE associations and its mineral. It was demonstrated that rare earth minerals still exist in coal fly ash and are associated with metal oxides. The quantity of REEs in the coal sample was determined by using the inductively coupled plasm-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) technique. The quantitative analysis result shows that the total REEs content in the coal ash was 414 parts per million (ppm). It was revealed that REEs are concentrated in fine non-magnetic particle size, and the froth flotation process is most effective at a pH=10. Using the physical separation method, the REEs in the coal fly ash was slightly enriched from 414 to 456.44 ppm. Thus, hydrometallurgical leaching is advised to evaluate the possibility of REEs recovery from secondary sources.
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Keywords
: Rare Earth Elements, Secondary resource, Fly ash, Coal combustion by-products
Citation
A. Lkhamsuren et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Resources and Technology (RESAT 2023), Advances in Engineering Research 226, https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-318-4_3