Abstract
Coal and coal by-products are considered as the potential raw materials for critical elements (e.g., rare earth elements, Li, Ga, Ge, etc.), which have attracted much attention in recent years. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics, and controlling geological factors of lithium and rare earth elements in the Lopingian (Wujiaping Formation) coal from the Donggou Mine, southeastern Chongqing Coalfield, China. Results indicate that lithium and rare earth elements are significantly enriched in the Donggou coals, which could be new potential alternative sources for critical elements. Concentrations of lithium and rare earth elements in the Donggou coals gradually increase from top to bottom. Lithium is mainly associated with kaolinite, while rhabdophane, florencite, goyazite, and xenotime are the main hosts of rare earth elements. The controlling geological factor is the groundwater leaching of underlying tuff, and to a lesser extent, the terrigenous clastic materials input from the top layer of the Kangdian Upland. This study provides mineralization information for lithium and rare earth elements exploration in coal measures.
Highlights
With the development of new energy and energy storage technologies, the consumption of critical elements such as lithium and rare earth elements (REY, or REE if yttrium is excluded) is increasing rapidly [1,2,3,4,5]
It is found that Li was evenly distributed in coal fly ash with different particles [19,20] and most of the Li was found to be concentrated in the amorphous glass portion of fly ash from some coal-fired power plants in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia provinces, northern China [20]
The ash yield of the Donggou coals varies from 15.41% to 43.74% (24.52% on average)
Summary
With the development of new energy and energy storage technologies, the consumption of critical elements such as lithium and rare earth elements (REY, or REE if yttrium is excluded) is increasing rapidly [1,2,3,4,5]. Anomalies of lithium are uncommon in coals worldwide. High-Li coals have been discovered only in the Krylovsk and Verkhne–Bikinsk coal basins in the Russian Far East [7], Jungar Coalfield [12,13,14], Ningwu Coalfield [15], and Jincheng Coalfield [16,17] in Northern China. Lin et al (2018) indicated that the Appalachian bituminous coals have relatively high probabilities of being promising sources of. It is found that Li was evenly distributed in coal fly ash with different particles [19,20] and most of the Li was found to be concentrated in the amorphous glass portion of fly ash from some coal-fired power plants in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia provinces, northern China [20]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call