Formation of Sulfate Minerals in Natural and Industrial Environments

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce a Special Issue of Minerals entitled “Formation and Properties of Sulfate Minerals in Natural and Industrial Environments”. Sulfate ions are ubiquitous in the environment, and as a result sulfate-containing minerals constitute one of the largest and most important groups of minerals. They play a key role in the global sulfur cycle and serve as indicators of past environmental conditions on Earth and beyond. A variety of products relying on the crystallization of sulfate minerals have been employed since antiquity, and today they are an essential part of a wide array of industrial and cultural applications, including grout, mortar, and cement production, dye synthesis, glass production and metallurgical processes, decorative products, and all sorts of wastewater treatments. Furthermore, the formation of sulfate minerals is a common nuisance in many engineering environments (e.g., water desalination and oil production environments) as sulfates form a encrustation (scale) that is difficult to remove, which decreases efficiency and increases operation costs.

For this Special Issue, we invite submissions from a broad scope of subjects related to the formation and properties of sulfate minerals. Potential topics include, but are not limited to the following themes:

• nucleation and growth of sulfate-containing minerals;
• kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of the formation and transformation of sulfate-containing minerals;
• sulfate-containing minerals in cement and other novel binders;
• sulfate-containing minerals on Earth and beyond;
• the processing of sulfate-containing minerals from cultural heritage and archaeological perspectives;
• sulfate scale formation and inhibition mechanisms.

Dr. Tomasz M. Stawski
Dr. Alexander E.S. Van Driessche
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.