Detection of rare earth elements in Powder River Basin sub-bituminous coal ash using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

We reported our preliminary results on the use of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy to analyze the rare earth elements contained in ash samples from Powder River Basin sub-bituminous coal (PRB-coal). We have identified many elements in the lanthanide series (cerium, europium, holmium, lanthanum, lutetium, praseodymium, promethium, samarium, terbium, ytterbium) and some elements in the actinide series (actinium, thorium, uranium, plutonium, berkelium, californium) in the ash samples. In addition, various metals were also seen to present in the ash samples.