Rare earth elements (REE) are of strategic importance because they find numerous applications in various sectors of the global economy.The concern about the REE supply challenge has led to increasing interest and research in the recovery of REE from end-of-life products and secondary sources such as coal and coal by-products. The work reported here was focused on examining the technical feasibility of physical separation techniques for the enrichment of REE from coal and coal by-products. Particle size, magnetic and density separations were performed on coal, coal ash, clay and shale samples. It was found that the samples responded to particle size separation differently. For all ash samples, higher REE concentrations were found in the finer fractions. For the clay and shalesamples, however, 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.
This work is part of our continuing efforts to address engineering issues related to the removal of tritiated water from off-gases produced in used nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities. In the current study, adsorption equilibrium of water on molecular sieve 3A beads was investigated. Adsorption isotherms for water on the UOP molecular sieve 3A were measured by a continuous-flow adsorption system at 298, 313, 333, and 353 K. Experimental data collected were analyzed by the Generalized Statistical Thermodynamic Adsorption (GSTA) isotherm model. The K + /Na + molar ratio of this particular type of molecular sieve 3A was ∼4:6. Our results showed that the GSTA isotherm model worked very well to describe the equilibrium behavior of water adsorption on molecular sieve 3A. The optimum number of parameters for the current experimental data was determined to be a set of four equilibrium parameters. This result suggests that the adsorbent crystals contain four energetically distinct adsorption sites. In addition, it was found that water adsorption on molecular sieve 3A follows a three-stage adsorption process. This three-stage adsorption process confirmed different water adsorption sites in molecular sieve crystals. The second adsorption stage is significantly affected by the K + /Na + molar ratio. In this stage, the equilibrium adsorption capacity at a given water vapor pressure increases as the K + /Na + molar ratio increases.
The
objective of the current work was to shorten the gap for fundamental
adsorption kinetic data required for the development of advanced adsorption
unit-operation models to be incorporated into an overall plant-level
model for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. The kinetics of water-vapor
adsorption on molecular sieve 3A was investigated at 25–80
°C and water dew points from −69 to 17 °C. Water
uptake curves were fitted with three kinetic models including the
linear-driving-force model, the shrinking-core model, and the Langmuir
kinetic model. The results suggest that the water-vapor adsorption
on molecular sieve 3A under the investigated experimental conditions
was controlled by both external film resistance and internal macropore
resistance. The contribution of the external film resistance varied
from 25% to 50% of the total mass-transfer resistance depending on
the adsorption temperature. It was also found that the Langmuir kinetic
model fitted individual sets of kinetic data very well, but the Langmuir
adsorption constant obtained from curve fitting decreased with increasing
adsorption temperature and with increasing water vapor pressure. This
result indicates a significant surface heterogeneity of molecular
sieve 3A and also implicitly verifies that the Langmuir isotherm model
is unable to represent isotherms of water adsorption on molecular
sieve 3A.
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