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Energy-Efficient and Sustainable Metallurgical Processes: Towards Carbon Neutrality and Zero Waste

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A: Sustainable Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2025 | Viewed by 708

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Johan Gadolin Process Chemistry Centre, Åbo Akademi University, Henrikinkatu 2, 20500 Turku, Finland
Interests: metallurgical thermodynamics; extractive metallurgy; recycling; energy materials; circular economy; electrochemistry; chalcogenide and intermetallic materials; sulfosalts and sulfates characterizations; metallurgical engineering; metals; renewable energy
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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Interests: thermodynamic modeling; process simulation of pyrometallurgical process; hydrogen reduction kinetics; steelmaking process; recycling of industrial waste
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Physics, National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, 33028 Rivne, Ukraine
Interests: metallurgical thermodynamics; extractive metallurgy; recycling; energy materials; circular economy; electrochemistry; chalcogenide and intermetallic materials; sulfosalts and sulfates characterizations; metallurgical engineering; metals; renewable energy

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Guest Editor
Department of Separation Science, School of Engineering Science, LUT University of Technology, 53850 Lappeenranta, Finland
Interests: biomass valorisation; lignin; wet oxidation; catalysis; biorefinery; chemical engineering; nanotechnology; polymers

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Metals are the backbone of modern society and are present in everything from infrastructure to electronics. However, their extraction and processing come at a significant environmental cost, generating carbon emissions and large volumes of waste. As the world moves towards a sustainable future, achieving "zero carbon" and "zero waste" in the metals sector is crucial.

This Special Issue requests submissions that address industry-specific challenges and propose solutions that drastically reduce energy- and/or process-related carbon emissions, as well as waste from metal extraction and processing. Original research and reviews in areas such as carbon-neutral extraction, waste minimization and valorization, perspectives on technical challenges and broader inorganic material-related technological challenges preventing the achievement of energy sustainability are also welcome.

Dr. Fiseha Tesfaye
Dr. Minkyu Paek
Dr. Mykola Moroz
Dr. Abayneh Getachew Demesa
Guest Editors

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. Energies 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 2600 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

  • energy efficiency
  • extraction and processing
  • recycling and secondary recovery
  • sustainable metals
  • zero carbon emissions
  • zero waste
  • recycling and circular production
  • thermodynamic modeling and phase diagrams
  • pyrometallurgical solutions for sustainability
  • heat recovery in the metals industry

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 7026 KiB  
Article
Potential Use of Pyrolysis Char from Waste Polymers as a Reductant for Direct Reduction of Mill Scale
by Yong-Woo Kim and Sun-Joong Kim
Energies 2025, 18(5), 1122; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18051122 - 25 Feb 2025
Viewed by 288
Abstract
Waste polymers composed of carbonaceous compounds can be converted into gases and oils by pyrolysis. Although pyrolysis char is generated continuously in the pyrolysis process, its high ash content limits its industrial application. In the present study, the use of pyrolysis char with [...] Read more.
Waste polymers composed of carbonaceous compounds can be converted into gases and oils by pyrolysis. Although pyrolysis char is generated continuously in the pyrolysis process, its high ash content limits its industrial application. In the present study, the use of pyrolysis char with a high ash content as a reductant for the reduction reaction of mill scale was investigated. The mill scale reduction behaviors were investigated by modifying the mixing ratio of oxygen in the mill scale and fixed carbon in the pyrolysis char at temperatures ranging from 1723 to 1873 K. The degree of reduction of molten iron oxide in the mill scale was obtained by measuring the amounts of CO and CO2 gases generated during the reduction reaction in an Ar gas atmosphere. The degree of reduction increased with temperature and mixing ratio of the mill scale and pyrolysis char. In this study, the maximum degrees of reduction of mill scale at 1873 K were 0.32 and 0.65 for C/O ratios of 0.77 and 1.33, respectively. Based on a comparison of the rate constants for the overall mill scale reduction reaction with the previous rate constants, the rate-determining step in the present study was assumed to be the insufficient agitation effects owing to the limited gas evolution of CO and CO2 caused by the low gases released during reduction resulting from the low initial carbon concentration. In addition, the potential use of pyrolysis char produced from the pyrolysis of waste materials composed of carbon compounds as an alternative carbon source was investigated. Full article
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