A novel methodology for rapid digestion of rare earth element ores and determination by microwave plasma-atomic emission spectrometry and dynamic reaction cell-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

•Elimination of toxic (hydrofluoric acid) and potentially explosive (perchloric acid) reagents.•Rapid (8 min) acid digestions of refractory ores of rare-earth elements.•Excellent recoveries of all rare-earth elements, thorium and uranium.•Provides data similar to those obtained by fusion techniques (fusion appears to be the preferred digestion technique for REE ores.

Short-wavelength infrared radiation has been successfully applied to accelerate the acid digestion of refractory rare-earth ore samples. Determinations were achieved with microwave plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (MP-AES) and dynamic reaction cell – inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (DRC-ICP-MS). The digestion method developed was able to tackle high iron-oxide and silicate matrices using only phosphoric acid in a time frame of only 8 min, and did not require perchloric or hydrofluoric acid. Additionally, excellent recoveries and reproducibilities of the rare earth elements, as well as uranium and thorium, were achieved. Digestions of the certified reference materials OREAS-465 and REE-1, with radically different mineralogies, delivered results that mirror those obtained by fusion processes. For the rare-earth CRM OKA-2, whose REE data are provisional, experimental data for the rare-earth elements were generally higher than the provisional values, often exceeding z-values of +2. Determined values for Th and U in this reference material, for which certified values are available, were in excellent agreement.

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