Characterization and mode of occurrence of rare earth elements and yttrium in fly and bottom ash from coal-fired power plants in Java,Indonesia

Fly and bottom ash(FABA)produced primarily from coal combustion in a coal-fred power plant consists of fne particles of the organic and inorganic mixture and trace elements.Eight FABA samples from coal-fred power plants in Java,Indonesia,had been collected for composition and rare earth element and Yttrium(REY)mode of occurrence identifcation.The geochemical composition of both major and trace elements was determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry/atomic emission spectrometry(ICP-MS/AES).Furthermore,the composition of FABA was identifed by petrography with refected light microscopy and X-ray difraction(XRD)analysis.Simultaneously,scanning electron microscope determines the mode of occurrence of REY with an energy-dispersive X-ray(SEM–EDX).The study fnds that the inorganic component of FABA consists of glass,Fe–Mg spinel,mullite,quartz,Fe-oxide mineral,and K-feldspar.In contrast,the organic component is dominated by unburned coal.Glass is the most abundant component with cenospheres as major and pleiospheres as minor constituents.Trace elements analysis indicates REY concentration with heavy REY(HREY)distribution pattern.Moreover,SEM–EDX analysis results show that Yttrium(Y)occurs in glass and has a low concentration in spinel.From the mode occurrence of REY,in particular Yttrium,it can be predicted that alkaline fusion followed by acid leaching will be the most appropriate extraction method to extract REY from Indonesian FABA.

Sequential alkaline-organic acid leaching process to enhance the recovery of rare earth elements from Indonesian coal fly ash

In this decade,coal fly ash(CFA)is considered a potential secondary source of rare earth elements(REEs).However,most REEs in coal fly ash are encapsulated in aluminosilicate glass,making it challenging to recover them through acid leaching.In this study,a sequential alkaline-organic acid leaching was developed for the recovery of REEs from CFA.The effect of alkaline leaching using NaOH solution on the destructive ability of aluminosilicate glass,as well as the mineralogy and morphology changes of the resulting coal fly ash,was first studied.Furthermore,the effectiveness of alkaline leaching on the recovery ability of REEs through organic acid leaching was evaluated.The results show that the maximum leaching efficiency for Si and Al,which was obtained at the optimum alkaline leaching conditions,namely NaOH concentration of 10 mol/L,reaction temperature of 65℃,liquid/solid(L/S)ratio of 10 mL/g,and reaction time of 90 min,is 28%and 32%,respectively.The digestion reaction with NaOH lixiviants also causes coal fly ash to become more porous,making it advantageous in the organic acid-leaching process at the REEs recovery stage.The utilization of the desilicated residue produced from the digestion process in acid leaching effectively increases the overall REEs recovery from 32.2%to 77.6%.