Lixiviation of rare earth elements in tropical soils amended with phosphogypsum

Abstract

In Brazil, the main producers of phosphate fertilisers are responsible for the production of approximately 12 million tons of phosphogypsum (PG) per year. This phosphogypsum has been used for many years in agriculture as a soil amendment. For its safe long-term application, it is necessary to characterise the impurities present in phosphogypsum and to study the leaching or dissemination of such impurities to waters or other ecosystem compartments. This paper aims to evaluate the availability of Rare Earth Elements (REEs): La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb and Lu. The technique used for the determination of the elements of interest in the soil, soil mixed with PG, PG and leachate was the instrumental neutron activation analysis. For this purpose, an experiment was carried out, in which columns filled with sandy and clay Brazilian typical soils mixed with phosphogypsum were percolated with water, to achieve a mild extraction of these elements. The results showed that the ƩREE in PG was in the order of 7,600 mg kg−1 while in the leachate, the sum was in the order of 100 μg L−1 results obtained for the available fraction obtained was below 1%, giving evidence that although the REEs are present in the PG in higher concentrations, they are not available to the water. It can be concluded that the addition of PG to the soils does not contribute to a significant enhancement of the REEs in water.