Advances in Removal and Recovery of Strategic Metals and Rare Earth Elements: New Approaches and Applications
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 5737
Special Issue Editors
Interests: hydrometallurgy; biohydrometallurgy; bioleaching; biosorption
Interests: biohydrometallurgy; bioleaching; biosynthesis of nanoparticles; bioadsorption
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Critical raw materials include strategic metals (Co, Nb, In, Ga, Sc, etc.) and rare earth elements (REE) at high supply risk. These elements are crucial for the development of advanced technologies and its demand is growing at a rapid rate. Scarcity and depletion of natural resources are pushing forward towards the use of alternative raw materials among which industrial wastes offer good opportunities. Vast amounts of strategic metals and REE are currently found at low concentration in a wide range of mining-metallurgical wastes, including tailings, mining wastewaters, slags, dusts, ashes and e-wastes, among others. In a circular economy, sustainable waste management is key to minimize waste disposal and reduce environmental impact achieving at the same time zero-waste valorisation. Therefore, eco-friendly approaches to recover valuable contents from industrial wastes may secure a finite but abundant source of strategic metals and REE. In addition, inadequate processing and/or storage of these residues can lead to the release of hazardous metals into the environment.
Thus, this Special Issue aims to collect papers on recent advances on the removal and recovery of strategic metals and rare earth from industrial waste streams either solid or liquid. These include new eco-friendly approaches and applications such as biohydrometallurgical processes covering the treatment of mining and electronic residues.
Communications, full papers and reviews on the above-mentioned topics are particularly welcome.
Prof. Dr. Jesús Ángel Muñoz Sánchez
Dr. Laura Castro
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Strategic metals
- Rare Earth Elements
- Removal
- Recovery
- Bioprocesses
- Bioleaching
- Biosorption
- Sorption
- Green Approaches
- Industrial Applications