The Occurrence and Concentration of Rare Earth Elements in Acid Mine Drainage and Treatment Byproducts. Part 2: Regional Survey of Northern and Central Appalachian Coal Basins

Vass, Christopher R.; Noble, Aaron; Ziemkiewicz, Paul

doi:10.1007/s42461-019-00112-9

Cited by 17 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…6 seams represented less than 10% of the total REEs; whereas the REEs in AMD generated from the refuse piles was more than 25% Yttrium. In addition, in the basin comparison study by Vass et al, the ratio of critical REEs (defined as Y, Nd, Eu, Tb, and Dy) to total REEs was nearly 50% for the Northern Appalachian samples [22]. The enrichment of HREEs in AMD, especially the elements located in the middle of lanthanide series (Sm-Dy, middle REEs), has been well recognized by geologists, which may be explained by several mechanisms: (1) the abundance and distribution of mineral phases containing REEs, (2) the stability of RE-bearing mineral phases with respect to the aqueous fluids, (3) the chemistry of the aqueous fluids, and (4) the immobilizing capacity of minerals, precipitates, and colloidal materials to REEs [120,122,123,126,127].…”

Section: Rees In Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 90%

“…Therefore, AMD can be used as an alternative resource of REEs. Extremely high concentrations of REEs have been detected in some sludges generated during the passive treatment process [9,22,124]. For example, 3037 mg/kg of total REEs were estimated from sludge samples from the Saxman Run treatment plant [124].…”

Section: Rees In Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, 3037 mg/kg of total REEs were estimated from sludge samples from the Saxman Run treatment plant [124]. The same group later conducted a broad survey of 141 treatment sites in the Northern and Central Appalachian coal basins and found that more that 20 of the 623 AMD sludge samples had concentrations exceeding 2000 mg/kg on a dry whole mass basis [22]. Northern Appalachian samples tended to have higher REE concentrations than those from Central Appalachia with statistically significant deviations for all REEs except Ce, Pr, and Nd.…”

Section: Rees In Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the much higher economic values of REEs relative to the major metals such as iron and aluminum present in AMD, several studies regarding REE recovery from AMD have been reported recently [9,10,12,22,124,[141][142][143][144]. In one of our prior studies [10], staged precipitation tests were performed on a coal mine drainage (6.14 ppm of REEs), and a REE pre-concentrate containing 1.1% of REEs was produced in the pH range of 4.85-6.11.…”

Section: Ree Recovery From Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Vass et al, REEs in AMD treatment sludge can also be economically recovered by solubilization followed by REE extraction from the solution [22]. Further work by the same group has led to the design and construction of an acid leaching/solvent extraction mini-pilot plant for the recovery of REEs from AMD sludge.…”

Section: Ree Recovery From Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Comprehensive Review of Rare Earth Elements Recovery from Coal-Related Materials

et al. 2020

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Many studies have been published in recent years focusing on the recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from coal-related materials, including coal, coal refuse, coal mine drainage, and coal combustion byproducts particularly fly ash. The scientific basis and technology development have been supported by coal geologists and extractive metallurgists, and through these efforts, the concept has progressed from feasibility assessment to pilot-scale production over the last five years. Physical beneficiation, acid leaching, ion-exchange leaching, bio-leaching, thermal treatment, alkali treatment, solvent extraction, and other recovery technologies have been evaluated with varying degrees of success depending on the feedstock properties. In general, physical beneficiation can be a suitable low-cost option for preliminary upgrading; however, most studies showed exceedingly low recovery values unless ultrafine grinding was first performed. This finding is largely attributed to the combination of small RE-bearing mineral particle size and complex REE mineralogy in coal-based resources. Alternatively, direct chemical extraction by acid was able to produce moderate recovery values, and the inclusion of leaching additives, alkaline pretreatment, and/or thermal pretreatment considerably improved the process performance. The studies reviewed in this article revealed two major pilot plants where these processes have been successfully deployed along with suitable solution purification technologies to continuously produce high-grade mixed rare earth products (as high as +95%) from coal-based resources. This article presents a systematic review of the recovery methods, testing outcomes, and separation mechanisms that are involved in REE extraction from coal-related materials. The most recent findings regarding the modes of occurrence of REEs in coal-related materials are also included.

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Section: Rees In Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Rees In Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rees In Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ree Recovery From Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ree Recovery From Acid Mine Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Comprehensive Review of Rare Earth Elements Recovery from Coal-Related Materials

et al. 2020

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Energy-Related Rare Earth Element Sources

Kolker,

Lefticariu,

Anderson

2023

Rare Earth Metals and Minerals Industries

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Partition of Rare Earth Elements Between Sulfate Salts Formed by the Evaporation of Acid Mine Drainage

et al. 2021

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Acid mine drainage (AMD) contains rare earth element (REE) concentrations several orders of magnitude higher than those of the rest of natural waters and could be a secondary source of REEs. In arid to semiarid climates with a long dry season, the precipitation of efflorescent sulfates constitutes a transient storage of REEs. The REE partition among the Al-Fe-Mg-Ca sulfates formed by the evaporation to dryness of six different AMDs was investigated by statistical methods and by selective dissolution. The chemical composition of the evaporitic salts showed that only three principal components (PCs) could explain more than 80% of the variability in the six samples analyzed. PC1 was associated with Ca and light REEs and interpreted as gypsum, whereas PC2 was associated with Y and heavy REEs, which were not clearly associated with a major sulfate. Finally, PC3 included Mg, Fe and several transition metals (Cu, Ni, Co, Mn and Zn) and was interpreted as Fe(II)-Mg sulfates. Selective dissolution of the salt mixtures with solutions saturated in the major sulfates revealed that the REEs were only retained in gypsum and were practically absent from the rest of the sulfates. The incorporation of REEs into gypsum decreased from Pr-Nd to La and Lu and was strictly ruled by the differences in their atomic radii and that of Ca in eight-fold coordination. However, gypsum concentrated less than 20% of the REE inventory (< 1% for Sc); the rest probably formed one or more unidentified trace minerals. This indicates that gypsum may not be an efficient way to concentrate REEs from AMD.

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The Occurrence and Concentration of Rare Earth Elements in Acid Mine Drainage and Treatment Byproducts. Part 2: Regional Survey of Northern and Central Appalachian Coal Basins

Cited by 17 publications

References 35 publications

A Comprehensive Review of Rare Earth Elements Recovery from Coal-Related Materials

A Comprehensive Review of Rare Earth Elements Recovery from Coal-Related Materials

Energy-Related Rare Earth Element Sources

Partition of Rare Earth Elements Between Sulfate Salts Formed by the Evaporation of Acid Mine Drainage

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