Rare Earth Elements (REEs) Measurement in Coal and Rock Mineral Matrices
Although critical minerals including rare earth elements (REEs) can be analyzed in laboratory by some established and reliable laboratory based analytical techniques, their in-situ measurements in the field have always been challenging. For identification of REE-rich sites and REEs distribution measurement, portable field applicable technologies are paramount. As Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has enormous potential for field measurement, it has been explored for REEs measurements by many research groups. However, most of the studies are still dealing with simulated samples with traditional bench top experiments. In real world, REEs are available in various types of natural complex matrices in low content depending on the geographical locations. Considering this, LIBS has been evaluated for REE measurement in two different complex coal and rock mineral matrices representing some natural REE-rich sites. In addition, multiple samples collected from some natural sites in Wyoming, USA were experimented by using NETL’s bench top as well as miniaturized prototype setups for REE measurements.