Rare earth elements (REE) include the lanthanide series elements (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu) plus Sc and Y. Currently these metals have become very critical to several modern technologies ranging from cell phones and televisions to LED light bulbs and wind turbines. This article summarizes the occurrence of these metals in the Earth's crust, their mineralogy, different types of deposits both on land and oceans from the standpoint of the new data with more examples from the Indian subcontinent. In addition to their utility to understand the formation of the major Earth reservoirs, multi-faceted updates on the applications of REE in agriculture and medicine including new emerging ones are presented. Environmental hazards including human health issues due to REE mining and large-scale dumping of e-waste containing significant concentrations of REE are summarized. New strategies for the future supply of REE including recent developments in the extraction of REE from coal fired ash and recycling from e-waste are presented. Recent developments in individual REE separation technologies in both metallurgical and recycling operations have been highlighted. An outline of the analytical methods for their precise and accurate determinations required in all these studies, such as, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), glow discharge mass spectrometry (GD-MS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (including ICP-MS, ICP-TOF-MS, HR-ICP-MS with laser ablation as well as solution nebulization) and other instrumental techniques, in different types of materials are presented.

Rare earth elements:A review of applications, occurrence, exploration, analysis, recycling, and environmental impact

This second edition is fully updated to include new developments in the study of metamorphism as well as enhanced features to facilitate course teaching. It integrates a systematic account of the mineralogical changes accompanying metamorphism of the major rock types with discussion of the conditions and settings in which they formed. The use of textures to understand metamorphic history and links to rock deformation are also explored. Specific chapters are devoted to rates and timescales of metamorphism and to the tectonic settings in which metamorphic belts develop. These provide a strong connection to other parts of the geology curriculum. Key thermodynamic and chemical concepts are introduced through examples which demonstrate their application and relevance. Richly illustrated in colour and featuring end-of-chapter and online exercises, this textbook is a comprehensive introduction to metamorphic rocks and processes for undergraduate students of petrology, and provides a solid basis for advanced study and research.

An introduction to metamorphic petrology

As more renewable energy is developed, energy storage is increasingly important and attractive, especially grid-scale electrical energy storage; hence, finding and implementing cost-effective and sustainable energy storage and conversion systems is vital. Batteries of various types and sizes are considered one of the most suitable approaches to store energy and extensive research exists for different technologies and applications of batteries; however, environmental impacts of large-scale battery use remain a major challenge that requires further study. In this paper, batteries from various aspects including design features, advantages, disadvantages, and environmental impacts are assessed. This review reaffirms that batteries are efficient, convenient, reliable and easy-to-use energy storage systems (ESSs). It also confirms that battery shelf life and use life are limited; a large amount and wide range of raw materials, including metals and non-metals, are used to produce batteries; and, the battery industry can generate considerable amounts of environmental pollutants (e.g., hazardous waste, greenhouse gas emissions and toxic gases) during different processes such as mining, manufacturing, use, transportation, collection, storage, treatment, disposal and recycling. Battery use at a large scale or grid-scale (>50 MW), which is widely anticipated, will have significant social and environmental impacts; hence, it must be compared carefully with alternatives in terms of sustainability, while focusing on research to quantify externalities and reduce risk. Alternatives such as pumped hydro and compressed air energy storage must be encouraged because of their low environmental impact compared to different types of batteries.

Study of energy storage systems and environmental challenges of batteries

Soil contamination with cadmium, consequences and remediation using organic amendments

An economic evaluation of phosphorus recovery as struvite from digester supernatant

Domestic Production and Use: In Virginia, one firm with integrated mining and processing operations produced kyanite from two hard-rock open pit mines and mullite by calcining kyanite. Two other companies, one in Alabama and another in Georgia, produced synthetic mullite from materials mined from four sites. Each company sourced materials from one site in Alabama and one site in Georgia; these data are withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data. Commercially produced synthetic mullite is made by sintering or fusing such feedstock materials as kyanite or bauxitic kaolin. Natural mullite occurrences typically are rare and uneconomic to mine. Of the kyanitemullite output, 90% was estimated to have been used in refractories and 10% in other uses, including abrasive products such as motor vehicle brake shoes and pads and grinding and cutting wheels; ceramic products, such as electrical insulating porcelains, sanitaryware, and whiteware; foundry products and precision casting molds; and other products. An estimated 60% to 65% of the refractory usage was consumed by the iron and steel industries, and the remainder was used by industries that manufacture chemicals, glass, nonferrous metals, and other materials. Andalusite was commercially mined from an andalusite-pyrophyllite-sericite deposit in North Carolina and processed as a blend of primarily andalusite for use by producers of refractories in making firebrick.

Mineral commodity summaries 2017

Domestic Production and Use: One firm in Virginia with integrated mining and processing operations produced kyanite from two hard-rock open pit mines and mullite by calcining kyanite. Two other companies produced synthetic mullite, one in Alabama and another in Georgia from materials mined from four sites. Each company sourced materials from one site in Alabama and one site in Georgia; these data are withheld to avoid disclosing company proprietary data. Commercially produced synthetic mullite is made by sintering or fusing such feedstock materials as kyanite or bauxitic kaolin. Natural mullite occurrences typically are rare and uneconomic to mine. Of the kyanitemullite output, 90% was estimated to have been used in refractories and 10% in other uses, including abrasive products such as motor vehicle brake shoes and pads and grinding and cutting wheels; ceramic products, such as electrical insulating porcelains, sanitaryware, and whiteware; foundry products and precision casting molds; and other products. An estimated 60% to 65% of the refractory usage was consumed by the iron and steel industries, and the remainder was used by industries that manufacture chemicals, glass, nonferrous metals, and other materials. Andalusite was commercially mined from a pyrophyllite-andalusite deposit in North Carolina for use in a variety of refractory mineral products for the foundry and ceramics industries.

Mineral commodity summaries 2018

Domestic Production and Use: In 2015, the production value of marketable potash, f.o.b. mine, was about $680 million. Potash was produced in New Mexico and Utah. Most of the production was from southeastern New Mexico, where two companies operated four mines. Sylvinite and langbeinite ores in New Mexico were beneficiated by flotation, dissolution-recrystallization, heavy-media separation, solar evaporation, or combinations of these processes, and provided more than 75% of total U.S. producer sales. In Utah, two companies operated three mines. One company extracted underground sylvinite ore by deep-well solution mining. Solar evaporation crystallized the sylvinite ore from the brine solution, and a flotation process separated the potassium chloride (muriate of potash or MOP) from byproduct sodium chloride. The firm also processed subsurface brines by solar evaporation and flotation to produce MOP at its other facility. Another company processed brine from the Great Salt Lake by solar evaporation to produce potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash or SOP) and byproducts.

Mineral commodity summaries 2016

Materials flow of sulfur

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Joyce A. Ober

Papers

Mineral commodity summaries 2017

Mineral commodity summaries 2018

Mineral commodity summaries 2016

Materials flow of sulfur

A world of minerals in your mobile device