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Study on the Occurrence of Rare Earth Elements in Coal Refuse Based on Sequential Chemical Extraction and Pearson Correlation Analysis

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Abstract

Rare earth elements have important strategic significance and economic value, and the rare earth elements in coal resources have considerable development potential. This study took coal refuse in the Jungar area of Inner Mongolia, China, as the research object, and investigated the occurrence modes of rare earth elements. A special sequential chemical extraction experiment was designed, and the results showed that the rare earth elements in coal refuse mainly occur in silicate and aluminosilicate form, accounting for approximately 65% of the total rare earth elements. According to the results of SEM-EDS, micro morphology of the sample belonged to the lamellar structure of clay minerals, and Al, Si, Fe, S, Y, and La were all present in the sample. Through SPSS software analysis, rare earth elements have an obvious linear positive correlation with Al, Si, and Fe elements, and a negative correlation with S elements. The rare-earth element occurrence mode in coal refuse can provide a definite theoretical basis for the later extraction and enrichment work.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 92062109 & 51974309), and China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents (BX2021362).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Coal Processing & Efficient Utilization, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, China University of Mining & Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Tiancheng Nie, Changchun Zhou, Jinhe Pan, Zhiping Wen, Fan Yang & Ruibo Jia

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  1. Tiancheng Nie
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  2. Changchun Zhou
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Correspondence to Changchun Zhou.

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Nie, T., Zhou, C., Pan, J. et al. Study on the Occurrence of Rare Earth Elements in Coal Refuse Based on Sequential Chemical Extraction and Pearson Correlation Analysis. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 39, 669–678 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-022-00542-y

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