Development of a Fast Simultaneous Analysis Method for Determination of Middle Rare-Earth Elements in Monazite Samples

Abstract

Rare earth elements are a set of seventeen metallic elements, which is an essential part of many high-tech devices. Hence, analysis and/or separation of the rare earth elements from their mineral become crucial. A novel analysis method combining ultraviolet-visible spectroscopic and multivariate analysis was developed to determine middle rare earth elements quickly and simultaneously. The data collected from ultraviolet-visible spectroscopic were analyzed by multivariate analysis. The results showed that the developed method has good accuracy and precision with a detection limit of 1.375 (± 0.012), 0.332 (± 0.004), 42.117 (± 0.200), 1.767 (± 0.011), and 0.576 (± 0.002) ppm, respectively for samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, and dysprosium. The interference effect of ammonium iron(II) sulfate hexahydrate, manganese(III) sulfate hydrate, calcium carbonate, sodium carbonate, and lead(II) nitrate were examined. The reliability of the proposed method was evaluated using monazite samples. Conclusively, the developed method was successfully applied to determine the middle rare earth elements in monazite samples.

Advances in Analytical Techniques and Applications in Exploration, Mining, Extraction, and Metallurgical Studies of Rare Earth Elements

“…For example, Pu et al [20] developed a spectrophotometric method that involves microcolumn online preconcentration for the determination of ∑REE, which is highly sensitive, selective, and accurate. Saputra et al [21] developed a fast quantitative analytical method by combining ultraviolet-visible spectroscopic and multivariate analysis for the determination of Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, and Dy, and successfully applied it to the quantitative analysis of these REE in monazite samples. Though spectrophotometry is an established technique for the determination of several metals including REE in geological materials, most methods are complex and suffer from several interferences from the matrix components, are not very sensitive, and some procedures are lengthy, while it is often difficult to determine one REE in the presence of other because of close chemical similarities.…”