Building a Greener World: Economic and Environmental Perspective and Benefits of Urban Mining

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 2039

Special Issue Editors

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) 124 Gwahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34132, Republic of Korea
Interests: resources to materials via environmental management; sustainable secondary resources innovation; hydrometallurgy & urban mining; clean energy technology applications & sustainable energy solutions; establish policy for resources recovery and recycling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Energy, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
Interests: life cycle assessment; mineral processing; hydrogen; drying
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Resources Engineering, Monash University, Australia, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
Interests: critical minerals; mine rehabilitation; supply chains of minerals
Department of Metals & Corrosion Engineering, University of Chemistry & Technology (UCT) Technická 5, 166 28 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: chemical metallurgy; recycling of metal-bearing waste; processing of marine concretions; preparation of micro- and nano-particles

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Human society is constantly changing due to the impact of the development of high-technology devices on daily life. In addition, the younger generations tend to change their end-use devices more frequently than previous generations, resulting in an increase in electronic waste to be disposed of and treated. CO2 emissions are increasing gradually, leading to climate change and global warming. Human-generated waste both plays a significantly detrimental role in the health of living things and causes environmental damage. The major urban mining categories can be divided into four types: electronic waste, industrial waste, municipal solid waste and spent catalysts.

In 2006, the UK conducted a survey that found that the amount of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) utilization over the lifetime of a UK citizen is 3.3 tonnes. This has increased significantly over time. EEE contains precious and toxic metals. Various toxic metals (chromium, lead, mercury, etc.) and precious metals such as copper, gold, platinum and rare earths may be utilized in EEE manufacturing. The utilization of these secondary sources of metals has two benefits: saving the Earth from toxic species and the creation of wealth from waste. In many instances, major environmental damages are caused by human-generated waste. For long-term sustainability, precautions as well as the management of EEE waste should be explored.

Decades ago, Mr. Dennis L. Meadows and his co-authors wrote the book The Limits to Growth, where they stated that planet Earth has limited resources while the consumption of metals and petroleum were increasing due to population increase, as well as an increase in human needs. They estimated and predicted that by the year 2100, industrial output will increase manyfold and resources will continuously decrease in availability.

So-called urban mines could be supply sources of precious and rare metals by using the discarded WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment). Their usage could contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases, supporting environmental improvement. The cycle of resource recycling will improve the economy and help to achieve a society with balanced well-being.

The goal of the present Special Issue is to use clean and environmentally feasible methods to create a wealth from waste. Urban mining is a secondary source of rare and precious metals.

Prof. Dr. Rajesh Kumar Jyothi
Dr. Nawshad Haque
Dr. Mohan Yellishetty
Dr. Hong Nguyen Vu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • urban mining
  • hydrometallurgy
  • critical metals recovery
  • e-waste
  • spent catalystindustrial waste

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 5972 KiB  
Article
Indium Recovery from Jarosite Pb–Ag Tailings Waste (Part 1)
by Miloš Janošević, Vesna Conić, Dragana Božić, Ljiljana Avramović, Ivana Jovanović, Željko Kamberović and Saša Marjanović
Minerals 2023, 13(4), 540; https://doi.org/10.3390/min13040540 - 12 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1376
Abstract
The processing of zinc ore using hydrometallurgical methods leads to the formation and accumulation of a by-product called jarosite, which contains concentrated precious metals. In this study, we propose the recovery of In and its separation from Cu, Zn, Fe, Pb, and Ag. [...] Read more.
The processing of zinc ore using hydrometallurgical methods leads to the formation and accumulation of a by-product called jarosite, which contains concentrated precious metals. In this study, we propose the recovery of In and its separation from Cu, Zn, Fe, Pb, and Ag. This study also presents a proposal for a new technological procedure for jarosite treatment. First we roasted the jarosite, and then the calcine collected was leached in water. The leaching extraction values obtained for Cu, Zn, Fe, and In were 91.07%, 91.97%, 9.60%, and 100.0%, respectively. Following the leaching of the roasted material in water, Pb, Ag, and most of the Fe obtained remained in the solid residue. The leaching solution was treated further by a precipitation process using NaOH, where In and Fe were precipitated and consequently separated from Cu and Zn. The In (OH)3 and Fe(OH)3 precipitates were dissolved further in a diluted H2SO4 solution, and then the cementation of In with Al was performed. We used HCl acid to remove Al from the In, after which unwrought In was obtained. Full article
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