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Minerals
Special Issues
Advanced Coal Processing: Comminution, Concentration, Desulphurization and Process Optimization
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Advanced Coal Processing: Comminution, Concentration, Desulphurization and Process Optimization

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2026 | Viewed by 577

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vedat Deniz

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Hitit University, Corum 19030, Turkey
Interests: mineral and coal processing; particulate technology; crushing and grinding; modelling and optimization in mineral processing; artificial intelligence applications
Dr. Xiangning Bu

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Guest Editor
School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Interests: ultrasound; fuels; flotation; nanobubbles; grinding
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sunil K. Tripathy

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Guest Editor
Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI), University of Minnesota Duluth, Coleraine, MN 55722, USA
Interests: mineral processing; extractive metallurgy; geo-metallurgy; dry beneficiation; dewatering; battery materials; waste valorization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is dedicated to the power of “coal”, our oldest and most indispensable energy source for humankind, spanning from the past to the present. As the sector operates under increasingly stringent energy supply constraints, it faces intensifying demands for efficiency, variability management, environmental, and sustainability. The Special Issue will highlight advancements in contemporary processing equipment and machinery, particularly solutions that measurably improve energy efficiency, reduce reactive power consumption, and enhance waste disposal in coal preparation plants, thereby enhancing environmental perspective and sustainability. Additionally, process modeling, stochastic and precise optimization, artificial intelligence, and machine learning methods are transforming plant recovery through recent advances and digital transformation applications. We particularly welcome contributions demonstrating reinforcement learning and model-based predictive control for plant-wide coordination in coal comminution, concentration, and desulphurization.

The Special Issue covers the entire coal value chain, including comminution, classification, wet beneficiation (gravity or flotation), dry beneficiation, acid or basic leaching, desulphurization, and waste management, with a focus on feasible solutions and measurable impacts (clean ash content, recovery, reactive optimization, energy efficiency, environmental and sustainability metrics, and emissions). We encourage articles on methods that integrate direct control and optimization under challenging plant operating conditions. Submissions of novel tools that demonstrate reliable technical, economic, and environmental benefits will be particularly welcome. Submissions may include original research, rigorous case studies, best practices, and perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Vedat Deniz
Dr. Xiangning Bu
Dr. Sunil K. Tripathy
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. 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

  • coal
  • comminution
  • gravity concentration
  • flotation
  • desulphurization
  • process modeling and optimization
  • machine learning application

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 2768 KB  
Article
Elemental Geochemistry of Float-Sink Products from Late Paleozoic Coals with Different Ranks: Implications for Clean Utilization and Resource Potential
by Dongna Liu, Wenhui Yi, Fenghua Zhao and Bijiang Xue
Minerals 2026, 16(6), 591; https://doi.org/10.3390/min16060591 - 1 Jun 2026
Viewed by 237
Abstract
Coal rank exerts a fundamental control on the distribution of elements during density-based separation, yet this influence remains poorly understood. The primary objective of this study is to elucidate how coal rank governs the enrichment and partitioning of major, trace, and rare earth [...] Read more.
Coal rank exerts a fundamental control on the distribution of elements during density-based separation, yet this influence remains poorly understood. The primary objective of this study is to elucidate how coal rank governs the enrichment and partitioning of major, trace, and rare earth elements (REY) in float–sink products, and to assess the implications for clean coal utilization and critical metal recovery. To achieve this, three Late Paleozoic bituminous coals of different ranks from Shanxi Province, China, were subjected to density fractionation (1.3–1.8 g/cm3) combined with proximate and ultimate analyses, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and coal petrography. The results show that coal rank fundamentally governs element distribution and enrichment patterns. With increasing rank, the dominant inorganic minerals shift from clay minerals to carbonates, leading to pronounced differentiation in elemental affinities. In medium- to high-rank bituminous coals, chalcophile elements (e.g., As, Mo, Tl) associated with sulfides are significantly enriched in high-density fractions, whereas in high-rank bituminous coals, carbonate-related elements (e.g., Sr, Ca, Mg) show marked enrichment. Rare earth elements are primarily hosted in clay and phosphate minerals. Light rare earth elements dominate in medium- to high-rank coals, while middle rare earth elements increase in high-rank coals due to carbonate influence. Density-based separation effectively concentrates hazardous elements (e.g., As, Pb, Cd) in high-density tailings, demonstrating substantial potential for mitigating environmental risks. Meanwhile, critical metals such as lithium (Li), strontium (Sr), and REY are enriched in medium- to high-density products, with Li hosted in clay minerals and Sr strongly enriched in carbonate-rich high-rank coal (up to 1525 μg/g), indicating recoverable resources from coal processing wastes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Coal Processing: Comminution, Concentration, Desulphurization and Process Optimization)
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