Rapid analysis of minerals and rare earth elements y time-gated laser spectroscopy - LasaREE (LasaREE)

Main funder

Funder's project number: 282240

Funds granted by main funder (€)

Funding program

Project timetable

Project start date: 01/09/2014

Project end date: 31/08/2018

Summary

LaseREE consortium objective is to develop a technological platform for real-time analysis of rare-earth elements and mineral composition in rocks and ore. Our work is motivated by a significant need within the mining industry to detect and analyze minerals onsite, without need for time consuming laboratory experiments. Our research method combines 3 spectroscopic techniques (Raman, LIBS and LIF) for real-time analysis of the minerals. The uniqueness of our approach comes from so-called time-gated detection of the signal and a low-cost laser solution, which allow fast, highly sensitive and information rich measurements of rock and ore samples. The strength of the consortium comes from the fact that we are able to combine top expertise in laser spectroscopic studies of minerals (University of Jyväskylä), ultra-fast time-gating electronics (University of Oulu) and short-pulse spectroscopic lasers (Tampere University of Technology) to achieve a higher goal, unattainable for any of the consortium members alone. We also believe that due to the vast size of the industry and potential savings that could be obtained with the new technology, the project results will have a high chance of creating new know-how based economic growth in Finland

Principal Investigator

Primary responsible unit

Related publications and other outputs