Rare earth elements (REE) are of strategic importance because their numerous applications in various sectors of the global economy.  The concern about the REE supply challenge has gained the interest and research in the recovery of REE from coal and coal by-products lately.  This work was focused on examining the technical feasibility of physical separation techniques (size, magnetic and density) for the enrichment of REE from coal and coal by-products.   The results indicated that the coal and coal by-products samples responded to size separation differently.  For all fly ash samples, higher REE concentrations were found in the finer fractions. For the shale samples, the REE concentrations decrease as the particle size reduces possibly because RE minerals were not effectively released by grinding.  Magnetic separation showed that REE are enriched in non-magnetic fractions for all ash samples.  All samples responded similarly to density separation. Among the three methods, density separation showed the highest enrichment of REE. A combination of these methods is recommended. Finally, correlations between elements were demonstrated, which leads to the classification of three groups containing mainly Al/Si, Fe and Ca, respectively.  REE are strongly associated with the Al/Si group.            <br/>

Physical separations of rare earth elements from coal and coal by-products

255th National Meeting (2018)

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