Determination of lanthanides in phosphate rocks by instrumental neutron activation analysis

The application of instrumental neutron activation analysis for the determination of long-lived rare earth elements (REE) in rock samples is considered in this work. The rare earth elements (REE) form the largest chemically coherent group in the periodic table. The versatility and specificity of the REE have given them a level of technological, environmental, and economic importance considerably greater than might be expected. The objective of this work was to determine the concentration of rare earth elements in phosphate samples from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, using both instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). The samples were prepared together with standard reference material and simultaneously irradiated in a neutron flux of 7 x 1012 n.cm-2 s-1 at ACTLAB activation laboratories Canada. The Instrumental neutron activation analysis proved to be the more precise method for a wide range of REE contents and can be recommended for routine practice.