Special Issue "Sustainable Production Management System for Production and Raw Materials"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Andrzej Pacana
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Manufacturing Processes and Production Engineering, Rzeszow University of Technology, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland
Interests: quality; environmental management; production engineering; ISO management systems; logistics; OSH
Prof. Dr. Lucia Bednárová
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies, Technical University of Košice, Letná 9, 042 00 Košice, Slovak Republic
Interests: management; environmental management; production engineering; economy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The topic of this Special Issue is raw material security, as well as the sustainability of the extraction of key raw materials. This issue affects a large number of countries, both mining countries and countries that do not have sufficient stocks of critical raw materials and are dependent on their purchase. Acquisition of natural resources, their processing, and production of final products cause negative changes in ecosystems, change living conditions, and disturb the balance of the ecosystem. Within this topic, we would like to focus specifically on extraction, processing, as well as alternatives that could ensure the optimal use of critical raw materials with their substitution function. Production, environmental management, and logistics are also closely related to this problem, which plays a very important role in the processing and design of new sustainable products. The system approach increases the effectiveness of these activities. Including a systemic sustainable approach to sourcing raw materials and production can contribute to a comprehensive view of this issue. The study will supplement existing publications with an up-to-date view of the systemic management of production and raw materials in the context of sustainable development. The outputs obtained from this Special Issue will significantly help to map the potential of countries and their raw material security and self-sufficiency, which would be highly helpful in creating overviews of the sustainability of critical raw materials and creating strategic documents, as well as providing data not only to the scientific community.

Prof. Dr. Andrzej Pacana
Prof. Dr. Lucia Bednárová
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 papers will be 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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 1900 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

  • natural resources
  • sustainable development
  • production
  • environment
  • management system

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Influence of Natural Aggregate Crushing Process on Crushing Strength Index
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8353; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158353 - 27 Jul 2021
Viewed by 371
Abstract
Crushing is one of the most energy-consuming technological processes. The purpose of grinding is to achieve the desired grain size of mineral raw materials. The process of grinding consists of many factors, for example, the size and form of crushed grains, as well [...] Read more.
Crushing is one of the most energy-consuming technological processes. The purpose of grinding is to achieve the desired grain size of mineral raw materials. The process of grinding consists of many factors, for example, the size and form of crushed grains, as well as their mutual arrangement inside the crushing machine chamber, the technological parameters of the crusher, the material properties, and the speed of the moving grains. One of the key parameters of the aggregate is its resistance to grinding. Resistance to grinding is related to the strength of the products made from aggregates subjected to grinding, which affects the overall quality of these products. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the impact of the crushing of natural aggregate on the LA crumbling strength index. Two types of aggregates were analyzed—natural gravel and natural pebbles crushed in a crusher. Aggregates were acquired from two mines belonging to the plant Kruszgeo S.A. in Rzeszów, i.e., ZEK (Zakład Eksploatacji Kruszywa) Ostrów and ZEK Strzegocice II. The aggregate crushing process was carried out for 4–8 mm and 10–14 mm fractions using cone crushers of the 1044 type. Aggregate crushing was carried out in a Los Angeles drum, in accordance with the requirements of EN 1097-2:2020. The analysis showed that for grits of the 10–14 mm fraction, the lower values of the LA indices were obtained, which allows for obtaining a bigger index of crushing strength than in the case of crushing using the 4–8 mm fraction. This analysis showed how important the process of grinding aggregates is and, thus, the appropriate selection of fractions for the grit crushing process for the aggregate strength on grinding. Subjecting the aggregate to the grinding process results in an improvement in the crushing strength indicator, thus obtaining better strength parameters of the products manufactured from the aggregates subjected to the process of crushing (for example, concrete). The originality of the study is an analysis of key Polish aggregates and the crushing strength index. Full article
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Article
A Pro-Environmental Method of Sample Size Determination to Predict the Quality Level of Products Considering Current Customers’ Expectations
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5542; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105542 - 16 May 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 443
Abstract
The main factor that conditions the success of organizations is the development of products oriented toward customer satisfaction. An additional attribute of organizations is the use of sustainable development rules. The use of these rules and the simultaneous desire to create high-quality products [...] Read more.
The main factor that conditions the success of organizations is the development of products oriented toward customer satisfaction. An additional attribute of organizations is the use of sustainable development rules. The use of these rules and the simultaneous desire to create high-quality products encourage organizations to apply different methods to, for example, eliminate waste. This study aimed to develop a method to determine the research sample size required to predict a product’s quality level, taking into account current customers’ expectations. This method was developed by modifying a procedure to determine the research sample size as part of the calculated estimator of the mean value in the general population. Based on the concept of product sustainability development, the goal of the developed method was to determine the number of potential customers (respondents) needed to provide product requirements, which were then processed and used to predict the quality level of the product. This method was applied to simultaneously test a number of hypotheses, determine the test power, and detect statistically significant differences for several relationships of the sample sizes and the test power. This was achieved using universal hypotheses and the popular alternative-punctual (MAP) method. Testing of the proposed method showed that it was able to predict the quality level of products based on current expectations of customers. Full article
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Article
Numerical Modeling of Mine Hoist Disc Brake Temperature for Safer Operation
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2874; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052874 - 07 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 517
Abstract
The sustainable exploitation of raw materials, with improved safety and increased productivity, is closely linked to the development of mechanical mining installations. Mine hoists are designed for the transport of material, equipment and personnel between the mine surface and the underground. The mine [...] Read more.
The sustainable exploitation of raw materials, with improved safety and increased productivity, is closely linked to the development of mechanical mining installations. Mine hoists are designed for the transport of material, equipment and personnel between the mine surface and the underground. The mine hoist braking system is of paramount importance in its safe operation. Thus, for both drum and disc brake systems, the temperature of the friction surfaces is important for ensuring efficient braking, as exceeding the temperature threshold causes a decrease in the braking capacity. In this paper we present a numerical calculation model for the temperature of the braking disc of a mine hoist in the case of emergency braking. A real-scale model was built, based on the cable drive wheel and disc brake system of a hoisting machine used in Romania. Real material characteristics were imposed for the brake discs, the cable drive wheel and the brake pads. The simulation was performed for decelerations of 3, 3.5, 4 and 4.5 m/s2. The analysis shows that regardless of the acceleration and time simulated, the disc temperature reaches its maximum after 1.35 s of emergency braking. This value does not exceed the 327 °C limit where, according to previous studies, the braking power starts to fade. It means that the emergency braking is safe for the acceleration and masses under consideration, in the case of the studied mine hoist. Full article
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