Spectral X-ray computed tomography for the chemical identification of critical minerals
- Author
- Florian Buyse (UGent) , Matthieu Boone (UGent) , Frederic Van Assche (UGent) , Stéphane Faucher, Peter Moonen, Stijn Dewaele (UGent) and Veerle Cnudde (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
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- Cofinancing core facility - Centre for X-ray Tomography – UGCT
- Electron and X-ray microscopy Community for structural and chemical Imaging Techniques for Earth materials
- Scanning Electron Microscopy at the core of Earth Sciences; reading 4 billion years of history in backscattered light.
- UGCT – Ghent University Centre for X-ray Tomography
- Abstract
- Differentiating minerals using high-resolution X-ray tomography (µCT) relies on distinct differences in the attenuation coefficient µ. The µ value depends on an interplay between the material density ρ and the effective atomic number Zeff of a mineral phase. Difficulties in identifying mineral phases arise when this interplay gives similar µ values and thus limited contrast within µCT images. Untangling these two dependencies is essential to improve the three-dimensional chemical identification of critical minerals. Lab-based methods and techniques often incorporate different measures, but only show a limited application potential on multiphase geological samples. Using high-Z spectral laboratory-based µCT we studied the potential of directly identifying chemical elements within the practical margins of high-Z spectral detectors. This paper compares the results from three mineral deposits using two spectral µCT setups. Chemical elements with a Z higher than molybdenum and a concentration of at least some weight percentage were correctly identified using K-edge imaging. The suitability of the different high-Z spectral detectors depends largely on the availability of prior knowledge of the sample composition. Quantifying elemental concentrations is element- and sample specific and currently does not allow for optimal automated mineralogy solutions. Improving the three-dimensional identification of minerals can be achieved with dedicated analyses of the energy-dependent µ curve and therefore will remain the focus of future work.
- Keywords
- Spectral computed tomography, CdTe detector, K-edge imaging, 3D chemistry, Mineral identification, Critical minerals, Economic geology
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01JNZF9G8NCR9RVJC6WDYX3498
- MLA
- Buyse, Florian, et al. “Spectral X-Ray Computed Tomography for the Chemical Identification of Critical Minerals.” TOMOGRAPHY OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, vol. 8, 2025, doi:10.1016/j.tmater.2025.100059.
- APA
- Buyse, F., Boone, M., Van Assche, F., Faucher, S., Moonen, P., Dewaele, S., & Cnudde, V. (2025). Spectral X-ray computed tomography for the chemical identification of critical minerals. TOMOGRAPHY OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, 8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmater.2025.100059
- Chicago author-date
- Buyse, Florian, Matthieu Boone, Frederic Van Assche, Stéphane Faucher, Peter Moonen, Stijn Dewaele, and Veerle Cnudde. 2025. “Spectral X-Ray Computed Tomography for the Chemical Identification of Critical Minerals.” TOMOGRAPHY OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmater.2025.100059.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Buyse, Florian, Matthieu Boone, Frederic Van Assche, Stéphane Faucher, Peter Moonen, Stijn Dewaele, and Veerle Cnudde. 2025. “Spectral X-Ray Computed Tomography for the Chemical Identification of Critical Minerals.” TOMOGRAPHY OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 8. doi:10.1016/j.tmater.2025.100059.
- Vancouver
- 1.Buyse F, Boone M, Van Assche F, Faucher S, Moonen P, Dewaele S, et al. Spectral X-ray computed tomography for the chemical identification of critical minerals. TOMOGRAPHY OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES. 2025;8.
- IEEE
- [1]F. Buyse et al., “Spectral X-ray computed tomography for the chemical identification of critical minerals,” TOMOGRAPHY OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, vol. 8, 2025.
@article{01JNZF9G8NCR9RVJC6WDYX3498,
abstract = {{Differentiating minerals using high-resolution X-ray tomography (µCT) relies on distinct differences in the attenuation coefficient µ. The µ value depends on an interplay between the material density ρ and the effective atomic number Zeff of a mineral phase. Difficulties in identifying mineral phases arise when this interplay gives similar µ values and thus limited contrast within µCT images. Untangling these two dependencies is essential to improve the three-dimensional chemical identification of critical minerals. Lab-based methods and techniques often incorporate different measures, but only show a limited application potential on multiphase geological samples. Using high-Z spectral laboratory-based µCT we studied the potential of directly identifying chemical elements within the practical margins of high-Z spectral detectors. This paper compares the results from three mineral deposits using two spectral µCT setups. Chemical elements with a Z higher than molybdenum and a concentration of at least some weight percentage were correctly identified using K-edge imaging. The suitability of the different high-Z spectral detectors depends largely on the availability of prior knowledge of the sample composition. Quantifying elemental concentrations is element- and sample specific and currently does not allow for optimal automated mineralogy solutions. Improving the three-dimensional identification of minerals can be achieved with dedicated analyses of the energy-dependent µ curve and therefore will remain the focus of future work.}},
articleno = {{100059}},
author = {{Buyse, Florian and Boone, Matthieu and Van Assche, Frederic and Faucher, Stéphane and Moonen, Peter and Dewaele, Stijn and Cnudde, Veerle}},
issn = {{2949-673X}},
journal = {{TOMOGRAPHY OF MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES}},
keywords = {{Spectral computed tomography,CdTe detector,K-edge imaging,3D chemistry,Mineral identification,Critical minerals,Economic geology}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{13}},
title = {{Spectral X-ray computed tomography for the chemical identification of critical minerals}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmater.2025.100059}},
volume = {{8}},
year = {{2025}},
}
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