Nano-scale rare earth distribution in fly ash derived from the combustion of the fire clay coal, kentucky

James C. Hower; Dali Qian; Nicolas J. Briot; Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez; Madison M. Hood; Ross K. Taggart; Heileen Hsu-Kim

doi:10.3390/min9040206

Nano-scale rare earth distribution in fly ash derived from the combustion of the fire clay coal, kentucky

James C. Hower, Dali Qian, Nicolas J. Briot, Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez, Madison M. Hood, Ross K. Taggart, Heileen Hsu-Kim

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

21 Scopus citations

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.

Original language	English
Article number	206
Journal	Minerals
Volume	9
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/min9040206
State	Published - Apr 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This work was funded by the National Science Foundation grants CBET-1510965 and CBET-1510861 to Duke University and the University of Kentucky, respectively. Access to characterization instruments and staff assistance was provided by the Electron Microscopy Center at the University of Kentucky, supported in part by the National Science Foundation/EPSCoR Award No. 1355438 and by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

Coal combustion products
Lanthanides
Monazite

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
Geology

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10.3390/min9040206

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title = "Nano-scale rare earth distribution in fly ash derived from the combustion of the fire clay coal, kentucky",

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.",

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note = "Funding Information: Funding: This work was funded by the National Science Foundation grants CBET-1510965 and CBET-1510861 to Duke University and the University of Kentucky, respectively. Access to characterization instruments and staff assistance was provided by the Electron Microscopy Center at the University of Kentucky, supported in part by the National Science Foundation/EPSCoR Award No. 1355438 and by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",

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doi = "10.3390/min9040206",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

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AU - Briot, Nicolas J.

AU - Santillan-Jimenez, Eduardo

AU - Hood, Madison M.

AU - Taggart, Ross K.

AU - Hsu-Kim, Heileen

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: This work was funded by the National Science Foundation grants CBET-1510965 and CBET-1510861 to Duke University and the University of Kentucky, respectively. Access to characterization instruments and staff assistance was provided by the Electron Microscopy Center at the University of Kentucky, supported in part by the National Science Foundation/EPSCoR Award No. 1355438 and by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2019/4

Y1 - 2019/4

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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Nano-scale rare earth distribution in fly ash derived from the combustion of the fire clay coal, kentucky

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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