Leaching Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements from Fire Clay Seam Coal
Recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from coal samples collected from the Fire Clay coal seam using diluted mineral acid solutions was investigated. The initial processing step was coal recovery using conventional froth flotation which concentrated the REEs in tailing material resulting in an upgr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-05-01
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| Series: | Minerals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/6/491 |
| _version_ | 1797566860290424832 |
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| author | Xinbo Yang Rick Q. Honaker |
| author_facet | Xinbo Yang Rick Q. Honaker |
| author_sort | Xinbo Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from coal samples collected from the Fire Clay coal seam using diluted mineral acid solutions was investigated. The initial processing step was coal recovery using conventional froth flotation which concentrated the REEs in tailing material resulting in an upgrade to values around 700 ppm on a dry whole mass basis. Leaching experiments were performed on the flotation tailings material using a 1.2 M sulfuric acid solution adjusted to a temperature of 75 °C to study the extractability of REEs from coal material. The effect of particle size, leaching time, leaching temperature, and solid concentration on REE leaching recovery were evaluated. The kinetic data obtained from leaching over a range of temperatures suggested that the leaching process follows the shrinking core model with possibly a mixed control mechanism that may be a result of several heterogenous materials leaching simultaneously. Leaching recovery increased rapidly at the beginning of the reaction then slowed as the system reached equilibrium. The apparent activation energy determined from test data obtained over a range of temperatures using 1 M sulfuric acid was 36 kJ/mol for the first 20 min of reaction time and 27 kJ/mol for the leaching period between 20 and 120 min. The leaching of light REEs during the initial stage was determined to be driven by a chemical reaction, followed by the formation of a product layer, which required lower activation energy in the later stage of leaching. In regards to the heavy REEs, the major mechanism for leaching is desorption and the product layer formation does not affect the heavy REEs significantly. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:32:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1456d90a66a8450c9e0d0831387822bf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-163X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:32:22Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Minerals |
| spelling | doaj.art-1456d90a66a8450c9e0d0831387822bf2023-11-20T01:57:11ZengMDPI AGMinerals2075-163X2020-05-0110649110.3390/min10060491Leaching Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements from Fire Clay Seam CoalXinbo Yang0Rick Q. Honaker1Department of Mining Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USADepartment of Mining Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USARecovery of rare earth elements (REEs) from coal samples collected from the Fire Clay coal seam using diluted mineral acid solutions was investigated. The initial processing step was coal recovery using conventional froth flotation which concentrated the REEs in tailing material resulting in an upgrade to values around 700 ppm on a dry whole mass basis. Leaching experiments were performed on the flotation tailings material using a 1.2 M sulfuric acid solution adjusted to a temperature of 75 °C to study the extractability of REEs from coal material. The effect of particle size, leaching time, leaching temperature, and solid concentration on REE leaching recovery were evaluated. The kinetic data obtained from leaching over a range of temperatures suggested that the leaching process follows the shrinking core model with possibly a mixed control mechanism that may be a result of several heterogenous materials leaching simultaneously. Leaching recovery increased rapidly at the beginning of the reaction then slowed as the system reached equilibrium. The apparent activation energy determined from test data obtained over a range of temperatures using 1 M sulfuric acid was 36 kJ/mol for the first 20 min of reaction time and 27 kJ/mol for the leaching period between 20 and 120 min. The leaching of light REEs during the initial stage was determined to be driven by a chemical reaction, followed by the formation of a product layer, which required lower activation energy in the later stage of leaching. In regards to the heavy REEs, the major mechanism for leaching is desorption and the product layer formation does not affect the heavy REEs significantly.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/6/491rare earth elementscoalleachingkineticsapparent activation energy |
| spellingShingle | Xinbo Yang Rick Q. Honaker Leaching Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements from Fire Clay Seam Coal Minerals rare earth elements coal leaching kinetics apparent activation energy |
| title | Leaching Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements from Fire Clay Seam Coal |
| title_full | Leaching Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements from Fire Clay Seam Coal |
| title_fullStr | Leaching Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements from Fire Clay Seam Coal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Leaching Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements from Fire Clay Seam Coal |
| title_short | Leaching Kinetics of Rare Earth Elements from Fire Clay Seam Coal |
| title_sort | leaching kinetics of rare earth elements from fire clay seam coal |
| topic | rare earth elements coal leaching kinetics apparent activation energy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/10/6/491 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xinboyang leachingkineticsofrareearthelementsfromfireclayseamcoal AT rickqhonaker leachingkineticsofrareearthelementsfromfireclayseamcoal |