@inproceedings{0cf6ce4758cc4b39b08a0365de65f542,
title = "Screening Alternative Sources of Critical Metals Via Alkaline Fusion: The Effect of Flux on Digestion Efficiency",
abstract = "Industrial by-products are a potential resource for fulfilling the demand for critical metals. Critical metal concentrations in industrial by-products can show significant fluctuation, necessitating the identification of by-products with concentrations suitable for metal recoveryMetal recovery via ICP-based methods. However, ICP-based methods require the conversion of solid by-products into a liquid form through acid digestionDigestion. Acid digestionDigestion requires significant time (~hours) and can often fail to dissolve critical metals residing in refractory minerals. These limitations of acid digestionDigestion can be potentially overcome with alkaline fusionAlkaline fusion. Here, we evaluate the feasibility of employing alkaline fusionAlkaline fusion using LiBO2 and Li2B4O7 as fluxes as an alternative to acid digestionDigestion. By analyzing two standard reference materials, we report alkaline fusionAlkaline fusion with LiBO2 as flux can satisfactorily dissolve critical metals from siliceous and non-siliceous by-products (>80% recoveryRecovery). These findings suggest that alkaline fusionAlkaline fusion with LiBO2 can screen industrial by-products with concentrations suitable for metal recoveryMetal recovery.",
keywords = "Alkaline fusion, Coal ash, Digestion, Lithium metaborate, Lithium tetraborate, Waste-to-energy ash",
author = "Vikram Kumar and Scott, {John W.} and Linduo Zhao and Bargon, {Margarita Fyodorovna} and Aniruddha Baral and Roesler, {Jeffery R.} and Sharma, {Brajendra Kumar} and Nishant Garg",
note = "The information, data, or work presented herein was funded in part by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-AR0001401. Additional financial support for this work was provided through the Sustainability Engineering Joint Research Program of the Prairie Research Institute and the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.; 8th installment of the REWAS conference series held at the TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition focuses on circular economy for the energy transition, 2025 ; Conference date: 23-03-2025 Through 27-03-2025",
year = "2025",
doi = "10.1007/978-3-031-80892-0_26",
language = "English (US)",
isbn = "9783031808913",
series = "Minerals, Metals and Materials Series",
publisher = "Springer",
pages = "273--282",
editor = "Adamantia Lazou and Christina Meskers and Elsa Olivetti and Fabian Diaz and Mertol G{\"o}kelma",
booktitle = "REWAS 2025 - Circular Economy for the Energy Transition",
address = "Germany",
}