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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Peng Li

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Guest Editor

Shagang School of Iron and Steel, Soochow University, Suzhou 215021, China
Interests: thermodynamics and kinetics of high-temperature reactions; energy recovery; recycling valuable elements from metallurgical slags

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the process of urbanization, the metallurgical industries that provide the basic materials needed for infrastructures, industrial facilities, vehicles, and buildings have grown exponentially. Large volumes of solid wastes are produced worldwide annually from the smelting, refining, and alloying activities of major metals, i.e., iron, copper, aluminum, zinc, and lead. Metallurgical solid wastes typically consist of slags, sludge, dusts, etc. Considering their high environmental impacts and suitability as a potential resource, the utilization, treatment, and management of metallurgical solid wastes is of great importance in the context of resource recovery and environmental protection. Although great efforts have been made to develop appropriate treatment, such as stabilization, solidification, and pyro-hydrometallurgical metal recovery, metallurgical wastes still constitute one of the world’s largest waste streams. Hence, more new techniques and applications need to be explored to ensure the long-term environmental sustainability of the industry.

In this Special Issue, we invite contributions from research areas regarding solid waste characterization and related resource recovery, reuse and recycling. Topics include but are not limited to the generation and characterization of wastes, secondary metal recovery, carbon capture, waste to energy, waste to value-added materials, and their interdisciplinary applications.

Dr. Peng Li
Guest Editor

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Keywords

metallurgical process
solid wastes
utilization
recovery
materials
applications

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 8389 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Recycling of Blast Furnace Slag and Fluorite Tailings into Diopside-Based Glass-Ceramics with Various Nucleating Agents’ Addition

by Wei Zhao, Xiaofeng Huang, Bingji Yan, Shaoyan Hu, Hongwei Guo and Dong Chen

Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11144; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132011144 - 09 Oct 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1721

Abstract

Diopside-based glass-ceramics are successfully produced by recycling blast furnace slag and fluorite tailing with the addition of supplementary elements such as TiO₂, Fe₂O₃ and Cr₂O₃ as nucleation agents, using a conventional melting method. The effects of various nucleating agents on the phase components and structure of the prepared glass-ceramics were evaluated by a differential scanning calorimeter, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope–energy disperse spectrometer methods to determine the optimal dosage of nucleating agents. The results show that, in the preparation of diopside-based glass-ceramics, the suitable percentages of blast furnace and fluorite tailing are 55% and 45%, and the recommended composite nucleating agents consist of 1.5% Cr₂O₃, 2% TiO₂ and 3% Fe₂O₃. Heat treatment was conducted at a nucleation temperature of 720 °C and a crystallization temperature of 920 °C, and the nucleation and crystallization durations were 1.0 h and 1.5 h, respectively. Under the abovementioned parameters, the obtained diopside-based glass-ceramics displayed a Vickers hardness of 7.12 GPa, density of 2.95 g·cm⁻³, water absorption of 0.02%, acid resistance of 0.23% and alkali resistance of 0.02%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallurgical Solid Wastes Treatment and Utilization)

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Review

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13 pages, 6302 KiB

Open AccessReview

Simulation of Slag–Matte/Metal Equilibria for Complex and Low-Grade Raw Materials

by Pekka Taskinen and Katri Avarmaa

Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12826; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132212826 - 19 Nov 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1356

Abstract

The depleting and increasingly complex mineral resources bring challenges into the area of metal production, bringing new boundary conditions to the smelting and refining processes. Thermodynamics of phases and equilibria are the key to the analysis of pyrometallurgical processes, enabling descriptions of their limiting boundary conditions. The raw material basis of non-ferrous metals needs an effective control of iron oxide fluxing due to the challenging fact that the targeted metal values of, e.g., copper, nickel, lead, and tin will exist as minority components in the smelter feeds compared to iron sulphides, gangue, and many harmful elements. This means more complex slag compositions and the amount of produced slag being several times that of the metal production. This feature severely impacts the heat balance of the smelting vessels where autogenous operation without external fuels becomes more and more difficult to maintain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metallurgical Solid Wastes Treatment and Utilization)

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