Enhancing Rare Earth Element Recovery from Coal Ash Using High-Voltage Electrical Pulses and Citric Acid Leaching
Ketegenov T. Kamunur K. Mussapyrova L. Batkal A. Nadirov R.
July 2024Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
Minerals
2024#14Issue 7
The study investigates the application of high-voltage electrical pulses (HVEP) as a pretreatment to enhance the leaching efficiency of rare earth elements (REE) from coal ash (CA) produced from the combustion of Ekibastuz Basin coal in Almaty, Kazakhstan. HVEP treatment was applied to the finest (<40 µm) non-magnetic fraction of CA under controlled conditions, optimizing discharge current, voltage, and treatment duration. Leaching experiments with 1 M citric acid at various solid-to-liquid ratios, temperatures, and durations were conducted on both treated and untreated samples. Results indicated that HVEP-treated CA significantly improved REE recovery rates compared to untreated samples, with optimal conditions achieving 74% cerium, 79% yttrium, and 77% lanthanum recovery. The leaching of untreated CA under the specified conditions allowed no more than 28% REE to be extracted into the solution. The leaching process was found to follow first-order kinetics, with the chemical reaction of metal dissolution being the rate-limiting step.
citric acid leaching , coal ash , high-voltage electrical pulses , leaching kinetics , rare earth elements
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Institute of Combustion Problems, Almaty, 050012, Kazakhstan
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, 050040, Kazakhstan
Institute of Combustion Problems
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology
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