Process evaluation and flowsheet development for the recovery of rare earth elements from coal and associated byproducts
- Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)
- Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
- West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States)
Coal and coal byproducts produced annually contain enough rare earth elements (REEs) to meet current U.S. demand. Here, the REEs exist in the form of minerals, ion-exchanged elements associated with clays and chemically bonded elements within the organic coal matrix. Researchers at three universities have collaborated to evaluate the effectiveness of existing physical and chemical concentration processes for the recovery of the REEs. The efforts have found that physical separation processes can increase the total REE content in the thickener underflow material collected from a Central Appalachian coal cleaning facility from around 300 ppm to values greater than 17,500 ppm on an ash basis. Leaching followed by solvent extraction was found to be the most effective to recover the REEs from coarse middlings materials collected from multiple coal basins as indicated by recovery values exceeding 80%. Based on material characterization data and process evaluations conducted for several potential feed coal sources, economic recovery of the REEs will require byproduct production of both clean coal and REE concentrate using a process flowsheet that is unique for each source.
- Research Organization:
- Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States); Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States); West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Clean Coal and Carbon Management
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FE0027035
- OSTI ID:
- 1908502
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1984652
- Journal Information:
- Minerals and Metallurgical Processing, Vol. 34, Issue 3; ISSN 0747-9182
- Publisher:
- Society for Mining, Metallurgy & ExplorationCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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