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Sustainable Mineral and Metal Processing
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Sustainable Mineral and Metal Processing

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Chemical Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2024) | Viewed by 4111

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Georgios Kolliopoulos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mining, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Université Laval, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Interests: sustainable processing; extractive metallurgy; hydrometallurgy; solvometallurgy; waste valorization; effluent desalination; water–energy nexus
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mineral and metal processing often results in the generation of aqueous effluents that are treated and disposed in tailing ponds. A green transition of mineral and metal processing is key to reduce the environmental footprint of the mineral and metal sector. Therefore, it is necessary to develop innovative cost-effective processes to remediate sites via a waste valorization approach that aims to:

  • Remediate contaminated sites,
  • Recover clean water via energy efficient treatment of industrial effluents,
  • Recover residual metals via environmentally friendly re-processing,
  • Adsorb high impact contaminants from industrial effluents onto novel materials,
  • Store CO2 in tailings, and
  • Generate energy from effluents.

This Special Issue invites all research and practical works concerning, but not limited to, the aforementioned pillars of sustainable processing.

Dr. Georgios Kolliopoulos
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable processing
  • mineral processing
  • hydrometallurgy
  • waste valorization
  • industrial processing effluents
  • tailings ponds
  • desalination
  • water-energy nexus
  • CO2 storage
  • environmental remediation
  • phytoremediation
  • adsorption

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 15047 KiB  
Article
Mechanism Analysis and Experimental Research on Leaching Zn from Zinc Oxide Dust with an Ultrasound-Enhanced NH3-NH4Cl-H2O System
by Aiyuan Ma, Jinjing Li, Jun Chang and Xuemei Zheng
Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 2901; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072901 - 30 Mar 2024
Viewed by 560
Abstract
Zinc oxide dust (ZOD) is an industrial solid waste produced in the production process of wet smelting Zn, with large output and great pollution to the environment. The recycling of metallurgical solid waste such as zinc oxide dust is very important to achieve [...] Read more.
Zinc oxide dust (ZOD) is an industrial solid waste produced in the production process of wet smelting Zn, with large output and great pollution to the environment. The recycling of metallurgical solid waste such as zinc oxide dust is very important to achieve the sustainable development of the circular economy. An experimental study of zinc (Zn) leaching from zinc oxide dust using an ultrasound-enhanced ammonia–ammonium chloride system was performed. The effects of ultrasonic power, leaching time, total ammonia concentration, and other factors on the leaching rate of zinc from zinc oxide dust were investigated. The results revealed that the leaching rate of Zn reached up to 80.70% under the condition of ultrasound power of 1000 W, reaction time of 15 min, total ammonia concentration of 6 mol/L, [NH3]:[NH4+] of 1:1, L/S of 5:1, temperature of 45 °C, and stirring speed of 100 r/min. The conventional leaching was conducted under similar conditions, except that the time was controlled to 40 min and the zinc leaching rate was 71.15%. The leaching rate of Zn in the ultrasound condition was improved by 9.55% compared with that in the conventional leaching process. XRD, laser particle size, and SEM-EDS analyses were conducted to study the leaching residues of ZOD. The analysis results showed that in the ultrasound condition, the largest leaching rate of soluble ZnO phases was achieved after 15 min of leaching. Under the ammoniacal system, it was difficult to leach ZnFe2O4, Zn2SiO4, and ZnS phases, which partly accounted for the low zinc leaching rate. Additionally, through ultrasound-enhanced treatment, the ZnO particles encapsulated in ZOD particles were broken into smaller sizes and exposed to the leaching solution. Thus, the leaching rate of Zn was improved. The experimental results show that ultrasound can tremendously improve the effect of Zn extraction from ZOD, shorten reaction time, and help reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution, making it a promising application in the treatment of secondary Zn resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Mineral and Metal Processing)
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16 pages, 2566 KiB  
Article
Biogenic Production of Thiosulfate from Organic and Inorganic Sulfur Substrates for Application to Gold Leaching
by James McNeice, Harshit Mahandra and Ahmad Ghahreman
Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16666; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416666 - 13 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1561
Abstract
Gold mining and processing is an activity with large environmental impact due to the low concentration of gold in ore deposits and chemical resistance to most chemicals. Over 75% of gold is leached from ores using cyanide, however less toxic lixiviants have been [...] Read more.
Gold mining and processing is an activity with large environmental impact due to the low concentration of gold in ore deposits and chemical resistance to most chemicals. Over 75% of gold is leached from ores using cyanide, however less toxic lixiviants have been proposed in the literature. Thiosulfate is one of these alternative reagents, but high reagent consumption has slowed acceptance in mining operations. Reducing the cost and impact of thiosulfate production is a way to reduce the cost of reagent consumption during leaching. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of leaching gold from ore with biogenic thiosulfate. Biogenic thiosulfate was produced using a marine methylotroph bacterium from three substrates: sodium sulfide, elemental sulfur, and dimethyl sulfide for application in bioleaching. The different substrates were evaluated to determine conversion efficiency from the sulfur source to biogenic thiosulfate and verified by titration and ion chromatography. Optimal conditions for conversion to thiosulfate were determined to be in the range of pH = 7–8, 25–30 °C, with sodium sulfide as a substrate in a sealed system to prevent sulfide from escaping as hydrogen sulfide gas. An oxide gold ore with a grade of 4.02 g/t was selected as a gold source for leaching experiments. The leaching of gold using the biogenic thiosulfate was compared with chemical thiosulfate solutions under experimental conditions of pH = 9.5, 50 mg/L copper, 500 RPM mixing, and 0.1 L/min air. The efficiency of gold bioleaching was measured using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy and fire assay. Gold extraction efficiencies ranging from 20–60% were achieved using the biogenic thiosulfate, and 27–77% with sodium thiosulfate solutions, respectively. It was concluded that the sodium sulfide substrate was best for producing higher biogenic thiosulfate concentrations and leaching efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Mineral and Metal Processing)
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19 pages, 4001 KiB  
Article
Synthesis of a Novel Adsorbing Agent by Coupling Chitosan, β-Cyclodextrin, and Cerium Dioxide: Evaluation of Hexavalent Chromium Removal Efficacy from Aqueous Solutions
by Tryfon Kekes, Virginia Giannou, Constantina Tzia and Georgios Kolliopoulos
Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13527; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013527 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1172
Abstract
The present study aimed at synthesizing a novel adsorbing agent by coupling chitosan, β-cyclodextrin, and cerium dioxide (Chit/β-CyD/Ce). Its efficiency towards the removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solutions was studied and compared to an adsorbent comprising of only chitosan and cerium dioxide. [...] Read more.
The present study aimed at synthesizing a novel adsorbing agent by coupling chitosan, β-cyclodextrin, and cerium dioxide (Chit/β-CyD/Ce). Its efficiency towards the removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solutions was studied and compared to an adsorbent comprising of only chitosan and cerium dioxide. Batch water purification experiments in varying experimental conditions (initial adsorbent concentration 5–100 mg/L, adsorbate concentration 0.1–2 g/L, pH 2–11, and temperature 15–50 °C) were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of both adsorbents. In all the experimental cases, the Chit/β-CyD/Ce adsorbent exhibited the higher efficacy. The optimum operating conditions were found to be at an initial adsorbent concentration of 2 g/L, pH = 3, and temperature of 50 °C, with the Chit/β-CyD/Ce adsorbent being able to fully remove Cr(VI) from solutions with up to 50 mg/L Cr(VI) at these conditions. The adsorption of hexavalent chromium onto both adsorbents occurs in a multilayer pattern of a heterogeneous surface following the Freundlich isotherm model. Furthermore, the adsorption process was exothermic and obeyed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, thus indicating the occurrence of chemisorption. Finally, FTIR, XRD, and SEM analyses were performed to characterize the synthesized adsorbents and verify the adsorption process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Mineral and Metal Processing)
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