A view of an open-pit coal mine in the Powder River Basin outside of Gillette, Wyo.
Introduction
The rare earth elements (REEs) include scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y) and the 15 lanthanide elements. The relevance of these elements is due to the excellent electronic, optic, magnetic and catalytic properties which give them an important role in emerging clean technologies. As the demand of REEs grows annually, coal fly ash (CFA) has attracted attention as a cheap and abundant waste stream containing appreciable REE concentrations. In this study, we aim to develop a method, using ICP-MS to determine the recovery rate of REEs extracted from CFA at high accuracy and precision.