Coal Feed‐Dependent Variation in Fly Ash Chemistry in a Single Pulverized‐Combustion Unit

Four suites of fly ash, all generated at the same power plant, were selected for the study of the distribution of rare earth elements (REE). The fly ashes represented two runs of single‐seam/single‐mine coals and two runs of run‐of‐mine coals representing several coal seams from several mines. Plots of the upper continental crust‐normalized REE, other parameters derived from the normalization, and the principal components analysis of the derived REE parameters (including the sum of the lanthanides plus yttrium and the ratio of the light to heavy REE) all demonstrated that the relatively rare earth‐rich Fire Clay coal‐derived fly ashes have a different REE distribution, with a greater concentration of REE with a relative dominance of the heavy REE, than the other fly ashes. Particularly with the Fire Clay coal‐derived fly ashes, there is a systematic partitioning of the overall amount and distribution of the REE in the passage from the mechanical fly ash collection through to the last row of the electrostatic precipitator hoppers.