Recovery of rare earth elements from coal samples from the Sohagpur coalfield, Madhya Pradesh, India

REEs play a pivotal role in the manufacturing of numerous industrial, defense, consumer, and aviation-related gadgets. As many primary sources of REEs are either exhausted or depleted, coal can be a good secondary source of REEs in the near future. The traditional thermochemical processes to extract REEs are expensive and detrimental to the environment, and thus exploration of more environment friendly and sustainable recovery methods are of the utmost necessity at the present time. In this study, we present in-depth investigation of REEs extraction from the coal samples from the Sohagpur coalfield, Madhya Pradesh. We conducted multiple experiments mainly focusing on rotational movement with the help of a laboratory shaker, magnetic stirrer with hot plate, and a flocculator jar test apparatus in the presence of acidic solutions. Our study highlights that the flocculator jar test apparatus exhibits the maximum recovery of REEs (Ce- 95%, Nd- 83%, La- 82%, Eu- 82%, Pr- 76%, Sm- 74%, Gd- 69%, and Tb- 69%) from coal in the presence of 2 M HNO3. This technique of REEs recovery from coal is easy to use, effective, has little environmental impact, and can be applied on an industrial scale with only minor adjustments to the machinery.