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Metals
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Advances in Sustainable Utilization of Metals: Recovery and Recycling
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Advances in Sustainable Utilization of Metals: Recovery and Recycling

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 1895

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jinfang Lv

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Interests: comprehensive utilization of secondary resources; flotation theory and reagent research and development; industrial wastewater purification and resource utilization
Dr. Dongxia Feng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Interests: basic research on flotation; coarse particle flotation; ion flotation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With accelerated global industrialization and expanding technology industries, the consumption of metal resources has continued to increase. The traditional linear model of "mining–processing–disposal" has resulted in escalating environmental and resource problems such as resource depletion, energy waste and pollution. Against this backdrop, the sustainable and comprehensive utilization of metals, particularly via recycling and a circular economy, has become crucial for mitigating resource constraints and reducing environmental loads. As such, advances in the sustainable utilization of metals via recovery processes and recycling are garnering more attention. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome.

Dr. Jinfang Lv
Dr. Dongxia Feng
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 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

  • solid waste
  • metal recovery
  • separation
  • metal recycling
  • sustainable utilization

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 4515 KB  
Article
Mechanisms of Fine Mud Covering and Enhanced Dispersion for a Rutile Middling
by Yang Wang, Yongxing Zheng, Liuyi Ren, Shaojun Bai, Lingyun Huang and Jieli Peng
Metals 2025, 15(10), 1074; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15101074 - 25 Sep 2025
Viewed by 381
Abstract
Electric separation is usually adopted to separate and purify rutile and zircon. However, fine mud covering over the target minerals either reduces the conductivity of rutile or improves the conductivity of zircon. Therefore, the conductivity difference between zircon and rutile becomes smaller, leading [...] Read more.
Electric separation is usually adopted to separate and purify rutile and zircon. However, fine mud covering over the target minerals either reduces the conductivity of rutile or improves the conductivity of zircon. Therefore, the conductivity difference between zircon and rutile becomes smaller, leading to the difficulty of separation and purification of both minerals. In this paper, the mechanisms of fine mud covering and enhanced dispersion for a rutile middling were illustrated by theoretical calculations of Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) and the extended DLVO (EDLVO), respectively. The fine mud was initially characterized by chemical multi-element analysis, X-ray diffractometer (XRD) analysis, electron probe micro analysis (EPMA), and laser particle size analyzer. The results showed that the gangue was mainly composed of goethite, quartz, calcite, and kaolinite and the average particle size of the fine mud reached 11.06 μm. The DLVO theoretical calculation revealed that the covering ability of fine-grained gangue ranked as follows: quartz < goethite < kaolinite < calcite. Compared with the zircon, the fine-grained gangue was more likely to cover the surface of rutile. The EDLVO theoretical calculation suggested that the addition of sodium silicate or sodium hexametaphosphate promoted detachment of the gangue from the surface of rutile and zircon and the shedding order was quartz > kaolinite > calcite > goethite. Moreover, the sodium hexametaphosphate had a better dispersion effect than the sodium silicate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Utilization of Metals: Recovery and Recycling)
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11 pages, 18277 KB  
Article
Experimental Study on Electric Separation of Ti/Zr-Bearing Minerals in Gravity Separation Concentrate After Thermal Activation Roasting
by Yang Wang, Yongxing Zheng, Hua Zhang, Xiang Huang, Xiangding Wang and Zhenxing Wang
Metals 2025, 15(10), 1072; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15101072 - 25 Sep 2025
Viewed by 359
Abstract
To solve the problem of purifying concentrates of rutile and zircon, a new method of electric separation after thermal activation roasting at 800 °C was proposed to strengthen the separation of Ti/Zr-bearing minerals. The results showed that the grade of TiO2 in [...] Read more.
To solve the problem of purifying concentrates of rutile and zircon, a new method of electric separation after thermal activation roasting at 800 °C was proposed to strengthen the separation of Ti/Zr-bearing minerals. The results showed that the grade of TiO2 in the conductor increased by 2.55~6.45% and the content of ZrO2 decreased by 0.83~2.60% after thermal activation roasting and electronic separation, in contrast with electronic separation without roasting. To further explore the mechanism of activation roasting, the electrical conductivity, the phase evolution, and the microstructure of the gravity separation concentrate (GSC), pure rutile and pure zircon before and after roasting were investigated. The results of conductivity testing showed that the roasting pretreatment significantly improved the conductive difference between rutile and zircon, thus strengthening their separation performance. The XRD results revealed that the thermal activation roasting made the anatase in the GSC transform into rutile, thus enhancing the conductivity. Meanwhile, the crystallinity of both of the pure minerals was improved. The SEM results showed that the GSC particles formed loose and porous sinters, suggesting the reconstruction of the unstable anatase into rutile. Small amounts of cracks and protrusions occurred on the surface of both pure minerals, ascribed to the dehydration and deoxygenation at a high temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Utilization of Metals: Recovery and Recycling)
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14 pages, 2552 KB  
Article
Selective Oxidation Depression of Copper-Activated Sphalerite by H2O2 During Chalcopyrite Flotation
by Peiqiang Fan, Xiong Tong, Xian Xie, Qiang Song, Yuanlin Ma, Bin Han, Haitao Fu and Zhiming Lu
Metals 2025, 15(7), 813; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15070813 - 21 Jul 2025
Viewed by 846
Abstract
Using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), a simple and easily accessible reagent, as a selective depressant, flotation separation experiments of chalcopyrite and copper-activated sphalerite were conducted. The micro-flotation tests of single minerals indicated that H2O2 selectively depresses copper-activated [...] Read more.
Using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), a simple and easily accessible reagent, as a selective depressant, flotation separation experiments of chalcopyrite and copper-activated sphalerite were conducted. The micro-flotation tests of single minerals indicated that H2O2 selectively depresses copper-activated sphalerite and exerted almost no depressant effect on chalcopyrite. In the flotation tests of artificially mixed minerals, a copper concentrate with a grade of 29.95% and a recovery of 87.30% was obtained, while the zinc content was only 5.76%, demonstrating a significant separation effect. The results of contact angle measurement, Zeta potential measurement, surface adsorption analysis, and XPS analysis suggested that H2O2 had a stronger oxidation capacity on the surface of copper-activated sphalerite than chalcopyrite, generating hydrophilic hydroxyl groups on the surface of sphalerite and preventing further adsorption of the collector Z-200 on the surface of sphalerite. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Sustainable Utilization of Metals: Recovery and Recycling)
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