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- Title
Nano-Scale Rare Earth Distribution in Fly Ash Derived from the Combustion of the Fire Clay Coal, Kentucky.
- Authors
Hower, James C.; Qian, Dali; Briot, Nicolas J.; Santillan-Jimenez, Eduardo; Hood, Madison M.; Taggart, Ross K.; Hsu-Kim, Heileen
- Abstract
Fly ash from the combustion of eastern Kentucky Fire Clay coal in a southeastern United States pulverized-coal power plant was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). TEM combined with elemental analysis via energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed that rare earth elements (REE; specifically, La, Ce, Nd, Pr, and Sm) were distributed within glassy particles. In certain cases, the REE were accompanied by phosphorous, suggesting a monazite or similar mineral form. However, the electron diffraction patterns of apparent phosphate minerals were not definitive, and P-lean regions of the glass consisted of amorphous phases. Therefore, the distribution of the REE in the fly ash seemed to be in the form of TEM-visible nano-scale crystalline minerals, with additional distributions corresponding to overlapping ultra-fine minerals and even true atomic dispersion within the fly ash glass.
- Subjects
KENTUCKY; UNITED States; RARE earth metals; FLY ash; MINERALS; ENERGY dispersive X-ray spectroscopy; PHOSPHATE minerals; COAL
- Publication
Minerals (2075-163X), 2019, Vol 9, Issue 4, p206
- ISSN
2075-163X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/min9040206