Application of Nanomaterials in Mineral Processing

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 354

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Mechanical Engineering Division, Technological of Superior Studies of Tianguistenco, National Technological of Mexico, Carretera Tenango-Marquesa Km 22, Santiago Tilapa, Santiago Tianguistenco 52650, Mexico
Interests: nanomaterials; textural characterization of materials; adsorption process; mineral modification; environmental remediation; flotation

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Guest Editor
Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea
Interests: mineral processing and extractive metallurgy; sustainable process development; urban mining; colloid chemistry
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the greatest challenges in mineral processing is “selectively” improving its efficiency. Nanotechnology offers tools to selectively recover valuable species in different types of minerals. This is possible using nanometric-scale materials, nanoparticles, nanoadsorbents, nanomaterials, etc., to directly impact areas of mineral processing such as the optimization of flotation processes, selective separation, the catalysis of leaching reactions, and wastewater treatment and tailing management to recover species of interest from mining waste. By applying nanomaterials, it will be possible to transform the mining industry, applying specialized knowledge to the utilization of nanotechnology and promoting more sustainable and efficient processes.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest advances in the application of nanomaterials to mineral processing in various areas, with original scientific research related to this objective.

The Special Issue focuses on the following topics: (1) nanomaterials; (2) concentration and separation processes of valuable species; and (3) tailing management and environmental remediation.

Dr. Alien Blanco-Flores
Prof. Dr. Hyunjung Kim (Nick)
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • nanomaterials
  • flotation
  • surface modification
  • selective separation
  • nanoparticles
  • catalysts

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 3708 KiB  
Article
Application of SDS-Coated Polystyrene Nanoparticles as Advanced Collectors for Selective Coal Flotation: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study
by Delia Monserrat Ávila-Márquez, Alien Blanco-Flores, Maribel González Torres and Helen Paola Toledo Jaldin
Minerals 2025, 15(6), 594; https://doi.org/10.3390/min15060594 - 1 Jun 2025
Viewed by 162
Abstract
Semicrystalline polystyrene spheroidal nanoparticles (50–100 nm) were obtained via microemulsion polymerization. They were evaluated as coal collectors in a low-rank carbonaceous mineral containing 2% organic carbon. The recovery of coal using nanoparticles as collectors was 88.2%, in contrast to 53.2%, 46.4%, and 44.8% [...] Read more.
Semicrystalline polystyrene spheroidal nanoparticles (50–100 nm) were obtained via microemulsion polymerization. They were evaluated as coal collectors in a low-rank carbonaceous mineral containing 2% organic carbon. The recovery of coal using nanoparticles as collectors was 88.2%, in contrast to 53.2%, 46.4%, and 44.8% achieved using an amine-type compound, kerosene, and diesel, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and zeta potential measurements confirmed the polystyrene–mineral surface chemical interaction. A Box–Behnken experimental design for flotation optimization was applied, and the results showed that the coal recovery increased up to 99.5% when the dosage of the collector was increased. A contact angle study and density functional theory calculations, together with XPS results, allowed us to postulate an interaction mechanism in which polystyrene nanoparticles adsorb onto the coal surface through hydrophobic interactions, rendering the oxidized surface hydrophobic and the coal buoyant by adhering to the gas bubbles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Nanomaterials in Mineral Processing)
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