Towards Implementation of Online XRF Analysis of Rare Earth Elements and Heavy Metals on Conveyor Belts

An X-ray fluorescence online analyzer was applied to the analysis of samples of known composition and concentration containing rare earth elements (REEs) and heavy metals (HMs), which were specially prepared by the authors (working samples). Reference samples were used for Th and U. The statistical parameters (detection limit, accuracy, and sensitivity) of the measurements of the spectra were calculated and a thorough assessment of the results was carried out. For large-volume samples, detection limits of 20–100 ppm for REEs and 10–140 ppm for HMs were achieved within 600 s. For thin-layer samples and similar geometries, detection limits for light and medium REEs improved to 3–20 ppm. The methodological possibilities for quantitative analysis of the REEs and HMs were examined and a rather simple approach with an easy implementation was developed. The method was tested in automatic measurements using concentrations in the range of 1000–4000 ppm, as a simulation of real-life measurements, and to determine the stability of the analyzer and the consistency of the results obtained. The results show that the online XRF analyzer can be applied for reliable detection and quantification of REEs and HMs at the ppm level. With these results, we are closer to obtaining results under conditions representative of those on real-world mining conveyor belts.