Recovery of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from Coal Ash
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 3095
Special Issue Editor
Interests: rare earth elements in coal and coal ash; mineralogy and X-ray powder diffraction; molecular structure of coal; heterogeneous catalysis; Fischer–Tropsch synthesis; coal-to-liquid; non thermal plasma reformation for hydrogen generation
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The demand for Rare Earth Elements (REEs) is increasing continuously in order to sustaining the need for synthesis of advanced materials utilized in a range of applications from quantum computing and materials science to medical applications; however, the conventional resources are not sufficient to meet the enhanced need of the present society. Coal ash (CA), a complex anthropogenic waste material, could be a secondary resource of REEs, as CA is known to have high concentrations of these elements. Annually billions of tons of CA are generated due to combustion of coal in thermal power stations. However, recovery of REEs from CA is a real challenge and intensive research work is going on in this area by several eminent researchers around the globe. Solvent extraction techniques are one the most effective and widely used methods for recovery. Recently, some new methods have also been studied, such as flash joule heating and biological methods. Solvent extraction process is usually preceded by physical beneficiation processes, such as size separation, magnetic separation, specific gravity separation, etc., followed by alkali pretreatment and then subjected to acid leaching. The most common reagent used for solvent extraction are di-(2-ethyl hexyl) phosphoric acid and tributyl phosphate. The problem is these processes or reagents are not economically viable. Due to environmental concerns, use of organic acids (Green chemicals) are becoming attractive. In this Special Issue, we are trying to bring together the cutting-edge research going on around the globe towards recovery of REEs from CA by different pathways. It is my great privilege to welcome authors to publish their target oriented research and comprehensive reviews for better understanding of recovery techniques towards secondary source of REEs.
Dr. Sudip Maity
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- recovery of REEs from coal ash
- green chemistry pathway for REEs
- secondary resource for critical elements
- solvent extraction
- value addition to CA
