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Minerals
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Recent Advances and Opportunities in the Bioleaching and Chemical Leaching...
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Recent Advances and Opportunities in the Bioleaching and Chemical Leaching for Metal Recovery from Industrial Waste Streams

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 August 2023) | Viewed by 10071

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Klemens Kremser

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agrobiotechnology, IFA-Tulln, Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna BOKU, Konrad-Lorenz-Straße 20, Tulln an der Donau, 3430 Vienna, Austria
Interests: bio-hydrometallurgy; waste to value; biosorption; enzymatic depolymerization; bioprocessing of waste incineration residues; metal recovery
Prof. Dr. Olli H. Tuovinen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, 484 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Interests: mineral leaching biotechnology; metal biotransformations; bioprocessing of metallurgical waste; composting; pesticide biodegradation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Declining ore grades and limited availabilities of economically important metals and critical raw materials in combination with increasing consumption of metal and mineral resources have already caused shortages of these materials. Secondary resources are, therefore, very important as potential sinks for valuable raw materials, which can be recovered and re-introduced into production cycles. Industrial mining, manufacturing, processing, and construction in areas such as metallurgy, energy production, electronics, waste incineration, and landfilling generate waste solid and liquid streams including disposable sludges, ash, and slags, which may contain recoverable metals. Some metal-containing waste from industrial processes may, however, have little or no treatment option or beneficial application without considerable economic input, but the benefits of waste detoxification and environmental health may help justify the recovery and sustainability. A potential threat to the environment is a consequence of limited storage options in the absence of economically justifiable solid waste treatment processes. For some waste streams such as spent lithium-ion batteries and printed circuit boards, the existing strategies of recycling and recovery cannot often fully tackle the complex material compositions, leading to incomplete recycling and losses of valuable resources. While biohydrometallurgy and novel chemical processes can be economical in the treatment of low-grade ores and tailings if compared to other hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical methods, their applications on industrial waste streams have not received sufficient attention. The Special Issue seeks to collect new and innovative ideas, methods, and techniques on the potential of applying biological and chemical processes for industrial waste streams for metal recovery. The Special Issue is organized into three sections:

  • Section 1: Direct and indirect bioleaching and chemical leaching of industrial waste streams
  • Section 2: Metal recovery from bioleaching lixiviants using mechanical, chemical, and biological methods
  • Section 3: Economic evaluation of novel processes for metal recovery from industrial wastes

Dr. Klemens Kremser
Prof. Dr. Olli H. Tuovinen
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. Minerals 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 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

  • industrial waste characterization
  • bioleaching of metals from waste streams
  • chemical leaching of REE
  • chemical leaching of metals from waste streams
  • metal recovery
  • secondary metal resources
  • microbe–waste interactions
  • economics of waste bioleaching and chemical leaching

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 7015 KiB  
Article
Bioleaching of Zinc from Blast Furnace Cast House Dust
by Amaia Sasiain, Sophie Thallner, Clemens Habermaier, Sabine Spiess, Ludwig Birklbauer, Martin Wallner and Marianne Haberbauer
Minerals 2023, 13(8), 1007; https://doi.org/10.3390/min13081007 - 28 Jul 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1388
Abstract
Metallurgical dusts are by-products from steel manufacturing. The high iron content of cast house dust (~64%) makes this by-product an interesting iron feedstock alternative. Therefore, its return into the internal steelmaking circuit, specifically in the sinter plant, is a common practice in the [...] Read more.
Metallurgical dusts are by-products from steel manufacturing. The high iron content of cast house dust (~64%) makes this by-product an interesting iron feedstock alternative. Therefore, its return into the internal steelmaking circuit, specifically in the sinter plant, is a common practice in the steel industry. However, this dust fraction also contains heavy metals, as zinc. As a result of the re-entry of zinc into the process, the zinc concentration in the blast furnace flue gas dust also increases. This prevents the full recirculation of the blast furnace flue gas dust in the steelmaking process despite its relatively high iron content (~35%), thus causing part of the blast furnace flue gas dust to end in the landfill. The goal of this study was to investigate the usage of bacteria, such as the sulfur oxidizing Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans or the iron and sulfur oxidizing Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, to leach the undesirable element zinc from the cast house dust while preventing the leaching of iron, by adjusting the sulfur addition and avoiding, at the same time, the accumulation of sulfur in the solid fraction. Experiments proved that a co-culture of A. thiooxidans and A. ferrooxidans can effectively leach zinc from metallurgical dusts, maintaining high iron concentrations in the material. The influence of elemental sulfur on the efficiencies reached was shown, since higher removal efficiencies were achieved with increasing sulfur concentrations. Maximum zinc leaching efficiencies of ~63% (w/w) and an iron enrichment of ~7% (w/w) in the remaining residue were achieved with sulfur concentrations of 15 g/L for cast house gas concentrations of 125 g/L. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Opportunities in the Bioleaching and Chemical Leaching for Metal Recovery from Industrial Waste Streams)
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15 pages, 3074 KiB  
Article
Preliminary Flowsheet Development for Mixed Rare Earth Elements Production from Apatite Leaching Aqueous Solution Using Biosorption and Precipitation
by Shahin Amirshahi and Esmaeil Jorjani
Minerals 2023, 13(7), 909; https://doi.org/10.3390/min13070909 - 5 Jul 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2136
Abstract
A flowsheet was developed to extract mixed Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from an aqueous solution generated by nitric acid leaching of apatite concentrate. In this study, Platanus orientalis (P. orientalis) leaf powder was employed in the biosorption process to purify the [...] Read more.
A flowsheet was developed to extract mixed Rare Earth Elements (REEs) from an aqueous solution generated by nitric acid leaching of apatite concentrate. In this study, Platanus orientalis (P. orientalis) leaf powder was employed in the biosorption process to purify the pregnant leach solution. The sorption and desorption processes were investigated and optimized. The results demonstrated the successful extraction of REEs from the pregnant leach solution using the biosorbent. Hydrochloric acid effectively desorbed REEs from the loaded P. orientalis leaf powder. Thermodynamic studies indicated that REEs’ sorption on P. orientalis leaf powder was an endothermic and spontaneous process. Precipitation and calcination steps yielded mixed rare earth oxides (REOs) with an assay of approximately 87%. The final product, mixed REOs, can be further refined through releaching and a secondary impurity removal stage prior to entering the individual REE separation process. Alternatively, it can be fed directly into the solvent extraction process or alternative technologies to obtain individual heavy and light REEs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Opportunities in the Bioleaching and Chemical Leaching for Metal Recovery from Industrial Waste Streams)
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15 pages, 3620 KiB  
Article
Semicontinuous Process of Rare Earths Recovery from End-of-Life NdFeB Magnets on a Large Laboratory Scale
by Anna Klemettinen, Zbigniew Adamski, Anna Leśniewicz and Leszek Rycerz
Minerals 2023, 13(7), 862; https://doi.org/10.3390/min13070862 - 25 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1982
Abstract
Hydrometallurgical methods for NdFeB recycling typically consist of several unit operations and require the extensive use of energy, water and chemicals which may negatively affect the applicability of these methods on an industrial scale. Based on the data from our previous studies, a [...] Read more.
Hydrometallurgical methods for NdFeB recycling typically consist of several unit operations and require the extensive use of energy, water and chemicals which may negatively affect the applicability of these methods on an industrial scale. Based on the data from our previous studies, a simplified process of rare earth elements (REE) recovery from spent NdFeB magnets was developed further. The possibility of regenerating the leaching agent, as well as water recovery, in the process was investigated. This study also investigates a possibility of scaling up the recycling process developed on a laboratory scale. The leaching and precipitation stages were tested on a larger scale, where about 1 kg of end-of-life magnets was used as feed to the leaching step. In this study, end-of-life magnets were obtained from the manual disassembly of computer hard disc drives. After disassembly, the magnets were demagnetized, broken into pieces and fed to the leaching process. In the following step, rare earths were precipitated in the form of oxalates. The rare earths’ precipitation efficiency reached a maximum of 95.6%. The results showed that the co-precipitation of Fe highly depends on the amount of oxalic acid used as the precipitant. Smaller losses of Fe were achieved while using a stoichiometric amount of oxalic acid in relation to the REE present in the solution. At the end of the investigated process, rare earth oxalates were calcinated to oxides and their purity was investigated. The recirculation of a solution after oxalate precipitation and acid regeneration was tested with hydrochloric and sulfuric acids used as leaching agents. Solution recirculation was found to be possible only in the case of hydrochloric acid. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Opportunities in the Bioleaching and Chemical Leaching for Metal Recovery from Industrial Waste Streams)
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15 pages, 2884 KiB  
Article
Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from the Leaching Solutions of Spent NdFeB Permanent Magnets by Selective Precipitation of Rare Earth Oxalates
by Anna Klemettinen, Zbigniew Adamski, Ida Chojnacka, Anna Leśniewicz and Leszek Rycerz
Minerals 2023, 13(7), 846; https://doi.org/10.3390/min13070846 - 22 Jun 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3867
Abstract
After mechanical pre-treatment, the typical hydrometallurgical route of NdFeB magnet recycling starts with leaching in acidic solutions. However, due to the high concentration of iron ions in the leaching solution, the selective recovery of rare earths from the solution is challenging. In our [...] Read more.
After mechanical pre-treatment, the typical hydrometallurgical route of NdFeB magnet recycling starts with leaching in acidic solutions. However, due to the high concentration of iron ions in the leaching solution, the selective recovery of rare earths from the solution is challenging. In our work, the selective precipitation of rare earth oxalates as a potential separation method was proposed. The precipitation of neodymium oxalate was first tested on model solutions, which was then followed by experimental tests carried out on real solutions after the leaching of NdFeB magnets. The recovery of rare earths in the form of oxalates was investigated with the use of different amounts of oxalic acid in relation to its stoichiometric amount. The most efficient separation of rare earths was observed in the case where sulfuric acid was used for leaching. The use of oxalic acid in stoichiometric amounts resulted in the precipitation of about 93% of all rare earths present in the solution, whereas the concentration of Fe and other elements (Ni, Co, and B) practically did not change. An increase in oxalic acid of 20% and 40% more than the stoichiometric amount (100%) led to the increase in the precipitation efficiency of rare earths to 96.7% and 98.1%, respectively. However, the use of oxalic acid in a 1.4 ratio caused a 7% decrease in Fe concentration, which suggests Fe co-precipitation. In order to investigate a possibility of further increasing the separation of rare earths from iron, an additional method was tested, in which iron was first oxidized from Fe2+ to Fe3+ before the precipitation of rare earth oxalates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Opportunities in the Bioleaching and Chemical Leaching for Metal Recovery from Industrial Waste Streams)
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