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Metals
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Metal Extraction and Smelting Technology
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Metal Extraction and Smelting Technology

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 580

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Dandan Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
Interests: mineral processing; hydrometallurgy; kinetics; silicon resource recovery; waste recycling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Metal extraction and smelting technologies are fundamental to global economic growth. As the industry evolves under the combined influence of economic demands, environmental regulations, and digital transformation, emerging innovations are increasingly oriented toward high efficiency, low environmental impact, and intelligent automation. As a critical branch of metallurgy, these technologies focus on the recovery of valuable metals from both primary ores and secondary scrap sources.

This Special Issue invites contributions covering cutting-edge advancements in metal extraction, refining, and product development from mineral and recycled resources. We seek original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that explore the following:

  • Novel extraction and purification methods (e.g., bioleaching, electrochemical recovery, solvent extraction);
  • Sustainable smelting processes (e.g., low-carbon pyrometallurgy, slag valorization);
  • Intelligent and digitalized solutions (e.g., AI-driven process optimization, smart refining);
  • Circular economy approaches (e.g., urban mining, critical metal recovery from e-waste).

We welcome submissions that advance the frontier of green metallurgy and contribute to a more sustainable metal production paradigm.

Dr. Dandan Wu
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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

  • metal extraction
  • sustainable smelting
  • circular economy
  • green metallurgy
  • process optimization

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 10815 KB  
Article
Kinetic Simulation of Gas-Particle Injection into the Molten Lead
by Victor Hugo Gutiérrez Pérez, Seydy Lizbeth Olvera Vázquez, Alejandro Cruz Ramírez, Ricardo Gerardo Sánchez Alvarado, Jorge Enrique Rivera Salinas, Mario Cesar Ordoñez Gutiérrez and Mercedes Paulina Chávez Diaz
Metals 2025, 15(12), 1334; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15121334 - 3 Dec 2025
Viewed by 154
Abstract
Powder addition onto a molten-lead surface followed by stirring is widely used for desilvering during lead bullion refining operations. We model submerged zinc particle injection by coupling (i) a transient particle–metal reaction following Ohguchi with a time-dependent reaction efficiency E, (ii) a Stefan-type [...] Read more.
Powder addition onto a molten-lead surface followed by stirring is widely used for desilvering during lead bullion refining operations. We model submerged zinc particle injection by coupling (i) a transient particle–metal reaction following Ohguchi with a time-dependent reaction efficiency E, (ii) a Stefan-type estimate of the zinc melting time Tf, and (iii) hydrodynamic descriptors of residence (τres) and mixing (τmix) times. The model is validated against experiments under a benchmark condition (gas velocity U = 3.32 m/s, 70% submergence), achieving a mean absolute percentage error of 1.13% for the experimental desilvering curve. A parametric study over lance submergence (30–90% of bath depth), injection velocity (3.32–9.79 m/s), and geometric scalings of lance and kettle identifies conditions where the hydrodynamic residence time τres approaches the Stefan melting time, maximizing liquid-Zn contact with molten Pb. Specifically, the proposed optimum balances the competing effects of plume buoyancy at high velocities—which tends to reduce residence time—against the deeper injection depth, ensuring that particles remain submerged long enough to fully melt and react. Within 16 simulated scenarios, the pair “90% submergence + U = 9.79 m/s” provides the best multi-criteria performance (desilvering fraction, E, and residence time) under realistic constraints. A parametric sensitivity analysis ranks injection velocity and submergence as the dominant levers, with geometry playing a secondary role over the tested ranges. The coupled hydrodynamic–kinetic framework provides quantitative guidance for optimizing industrial desilvering by particle injection and is extensible to other powder-injection refining operations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Extraction and Smelting Technology)
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20 pages, 5665 KB  
Article
The Impact of Electron Beam Melting on the Purification of Recycled Zirconium
by Katia Vutova, Vladislava Stefanova, Evgeniy Manoilov, Irena Mihailova, Maria Naplatanova and Peter Iliev
Metals 2025, 15(11), 1273; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15111273 - 20 Nov 2025
Viewed by 229
Abstract
Zirconium belongs to the group of critical rare metals and is primarily used in industry. Its most important application, as the basis for specialized alloys, is in nuclear reactors, owing to its exceptionally very low thermal neutron absorption cross-section. Based on theoretical and [...] Read more.
Zirconium belongs to the group of critical rare metals and is primarily used in industry. Its most important application, as the basis for specialized alloys, is in nuclear reactors, owing to its exceptionally very low thermal neutron absorption cross-section. Based on theoretical and experimental investigation, the potential for removing metallic (Al, Ti, Hf, V, Fe, Cr, Cu, Ni) and non-metallic (O, C) impurities from technogenic zirconium during electron beam melting (EBM) was assessed. The influence of temperature (ranging from 2350 K to 2750 K) and refining duration (10, 15, and 20 min) under vacuum conditions (1 × 10−3 Pa) was investigated concerning the degree of impurity removal, the microstructure, and the micro-hardness of the resulting ingots. It was established that under optimal EBM conditions for technogenic zirconium (T = 2750 K, τ = 20 min), the total refining efficiency reached approximately 87%, and the achieved Zr purity was 99.756%. Among the impurities present in the technogenic zirconium, the lowest removal efficiencies were recorded for Al (54.90%) and Cr (88.89%), with the lower refining efficiency for Al influencing the microstructure and micro-hardness of the ingots produced after EBM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metal Extraction and Smelting Technology)
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