Rare earth elements, i.e., lanthanides, are important components of many recently developed technology applications. However, their increasing use in the industrial sector, medicine, and agriculture over the last few decades has provided them with the title of “new pollutants”. Different methods are now applied for the removal of various pollutants from wastewaters, whereby the emphasis is placed on adsorption due to its simplicity, high efficiency, and low cost. In the present study, geopolymers prepared from coal ash were examined regarding their capacity for the adsorption of lanthanides from model solutions. The obtained results indicate the efficient removal of lanthanides by prepared geopolymers, depicting them as effective adsorbents for this group of elements.
Rare earth elements and yttrium in coal ash from the Luzhou power plant in Sichuan, Southwest China: Concentration, characterization and optimized extraction