REWAS 2013

Modern life would not be possible without copper. The high worldwide demand for copper raises several questions for the copper industry in terms of economic and ecological considerations regarding the main product copper as well as the by-product iron silicate. The future challenge for copper smelters is to increase the yield by reducing the copper losses and to obtain the iron-silicate as a marketable by-product. This can be achieved by further treatment of the slag. A newly developed slag cleaning technology has been evaluated in a specially designed pilot furnace integrated into an industrial process. Applying a magnetic field across a DC field improves stirring, thereby fostering the settling of entrained copper droplets. The results showed that a 30 % to 50 % reduction of the Cu content in the iron silicate product is feasible, depending on the composition of the incoming copper slag. This makes the process economically attractive.

The earthquake with seismic intensity six trembled Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan on March 11 2011 and a subsequent tsunami attacked the coast on which Onahama Smelter & Refinery was located. The earthquake damaged many facilities and liquefied the ground. The tsunami flooded one third of the plant area. Furthermore, the repair work had to be suspended by the accident happened at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The repair work was restarted in April and progressed smoothly. The operation was restarted on June 30 and the revival of Onahama Smelter & Refinery from the disaster by the Great East Japan Earthquake was completed. Radioactivity measurements have been programmed in detail and applied all over the materials covering from raw materials to products in order to supply safe and relief products to customers. The radioactive contamination to the products has not been detected at all.

Countries like Korea having very limited uranium resources and founded deposits having low grade metal values. Uranium is the main source to generate the nuclear power as cheap and more quantity of the electricity will generate. For this reasons the upcoming researchers in developed/developing countries are establishing more research and development on extraction and separation technologies for uranium. The present scientific study focused on leaching process of Korean domestic ore. The following experiments are carryout for optimization of the leaching process. Acid influence on leaching process was tested and noted that 2.0 M sulfuric acid concentration is the optimized conditions for present study. The time influence on leaching process was observed and its optimized 2 h for complete leaching process. The temperature influence tested and optimized the 80°C for complete leaching process and pulp density is 50% (wt %).

Ion-exchange is the main technology used in industry for gallium recovery from Bayer liquor, the largest gallium production resource. However, the co-extraction of vanadium and the degradation of resins are the major issues. Further investigations related to fundamental theory are needed. This paper reports the study of the adsorption properties of a strongly basic resin having a combination of one =NOH group and another active group -NH₂ for Ga(III) extraction. The influence of operational conditions such as contact time, initial Ga(III) concentration and temperature on Ga(III) adsorption were extensively investigated. The results revealed that the resin has high adsorption capacity and Ga(III) selectivity. The optimal adsorption condition was obtained at temperatures of 40–50°C and contact time of 40–60 min. The Ga(III) adsorption data on the resin fit well with the pseudo second-order kinetics. Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to describe Ga(III) adsorption isotherms on the resin.

The growing search for forms of clean renewable energy has placed wood charcoal as a possible alternative to coal in the Brazilian steel industry. The carbonization of Eucalyptus Saligna is an important step in the production of charcoal. The aim of this study is to analyze the behavior of the endothermic and exothermic reactions involved in the carbonization process. The carbonization of logs of Eucalyptus Saligna has been performed in a stainless steel reactor at different temperatures (300 ° C, 400 ° C and 500 ° C) and the results were compared with the ones obtained through thermal analysis (TG / DSC) of small samples (36 mg and 54 mg) of the same wood. The TG/DSC results indicated that the process presents both endothermic and exothermic features, at different ranges of temperature and time, in connection with the degradation of the three major macromolecules contained in the wood: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin.

Petroleum fly ash generated from heavy oil fired power plant contains significant amount of vanadium and carbon. In the present study a recipe-based concept is introduced for metal recovery by making use of two waste ash residues: basic oxygen furnace (BOF) steelmaking flue dust, and petroleum fly ash. The carbon contained in the fly ash is used as the reductant and BOF flue dust provides iron source and partially slag formers. A ferrovanadium alloy (FeV) with 15–20% vanadium was produced through reduction smelting of the two ash mixture at 1550–1600°C in the lab. Some impurities (Ni, S and C) remain in the metal. The carbon to metal ratio has the largest effect on the metal quality. The slag properties such as basicity are important for metal yield and metal quality. The results prove that a recipe-based multi-waste co-processing can be a sustainable solution for converting wastes to valuable raw materials.

Copper slag can be treated as a secondary resource since it usually contains a substantial amount of copper and other valuable metals. Characterization of the slags to determine the expected metal recovery is essential for the design of separation flow sheets. In this study, the chemical and mineralogical composition of a copper slag from El Teniente, Chile were characterized. The copper content of the fayalite based slag is around 0.87 wt% which is higher than for certain copper ores. Copper exists as sulfides in the form of droplets in the slag. The content and particle size distribution of the major sulfide phases (bornite, chalcopyrite and chalcocite) were quantified using analytical scanning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN). The copper bearing particles have a wide particle size distribution from a few microns up to mm level. Large copper bearing particles (> 100 µm) are composed mainly of bornite and chalcocite and tend to accumulate in the lower part of the slag layer. As characterized with X-ray computed tomography (CT), around 70 volume% of copper value exist in these large copper bearing particles.

The search for an effective mini-mill solution to treat zinc containing residues from steel industry or also cupola furnaces has a long history but has not been very successful yet due to several reasons. Some of them are: Not available technologies, the not well known and not developed product market by the steel producers, still relatively low treatment charges for the landfilling and no effective solution for an additional iron recovery. The present paper describes a process where in two subsequent steps by the use of a Top Blown Rotary Converter technology a simultaneous recovery of zinc, iron and other valuable metals should be possible. Investigations which were done in an advanced technical scale gave satisfying results. These data allowed the calculation of a mass- and energy balance. First economic considerations underline that with such a concept a feasible mini-mill solution could be established for the mentioned residues.

Using Best Available Technology is a phase that we often hear when there are environmental discussions on aluminum dross and secondary salt slag processing. The reality is best available technology is a mix between efficient removal of the valuable aluminum, oxides, misc metals and flux from dross and salt cake. This combined with conscientious land fill disposal of those items that finally, at this time, have no economic use is the reality of a company’s best available actions. Recycling processes must be looked at with both the economic and environmental benefits weighed for their responsible implementation. This paper will discuss how this is done on a practical basis by Recycling Ventures (a secondary processor) and Environmental Waste Solutions (a Title II landfill), for the aluminum industry.

Although vehicles represent a main key of our modern society, they affect our environment via the energy and resource consumption, waste generation during their manufacturing as well as greenhouse gas emissions all along their use. Further, hazardous residues are produced at the end-of-life vehicles “ELV”. After collection and dismantling, the remainders of the ELV are directed to shredding operator followed by a series of mechanical and physical separations in order to recover the ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The residue of the shredding process, called automobile shredder residue “ASR” represents about 20–25% of the ELV. The ASR, while toxic enough to be classified as hazardous waste, could be considered as material and energy sources.The present study deals with the possibility of material and energy beneficiation of the ASR by its use in the metallurgical units. ASR samples from an European automobile shredder company were collected and subjected to the physical separation process followed by a thermodynamic approach and isothermal batch tests to assess the reducing performance and energy capacity of the ASR hydrocarbon matter. Particular attention was devoted to the behavior of several residual and tramp elements (Cl, Pb, Cu, Zn) affecting the metallurgical process and the product quality. Results showed that physical operations (screening, attrition, dry low intensity magnetic separation) lead to a selective extraction of the mineral part of the ASR which can be directed to the blast furnace unit. Direct reduction of hematite by the plastics contained in the ASR was obtained at 1000–1050 °C resulting into multistage steps of Fe₂O₃ converting into metallic iron. Multi-parametric analysis of the results suggests that the purified ASR can partially substitute raw materials used in pig iron and steel production.

Metals are essential for modern lifestyles. As standards of living improve and metal consumption increases, it is evident that raw materials are becoming scarcer. The recycling of metals is essential if we are to build a more sustainable society. ISASMELT™ Top Submerged Lance (TSL) technology can enable plant operators to recycle metals efficiently. The implementation of the ISASMELT™ technology for the recycling of valuable metals at Umicore Precious Metals Refining in Belgium and Aurubis AG in Germany are both good examples of how ISASMELT™ technology can be used to recycle a range of metals. Visionary people motivated by the need for a technological breakthrough have developed novel processes for recycling complex materials incorporating the ISASMELT™ technology.This paper describes how the ISASMELT™ technology is used to recycle a range of materials. It highlights one of the most important strengths of the technology: its versatility and capacity to be incorporated into new, innovative applications.

Social sensitivity of habitants, minimal impact on the environment, low-grade infrastructure, high altitude, frequent rock slides combined with expectations for the timely moving of equipment and workers are some of the challenges emerging from the current construction of a mine. Starting with traditional planning, and experiencing issues in the early phase of the construction, a traffic simulator was requested by the Procurement Department in order to validate daily-weekly schedules and predict likely delays or blockages on the long-term.The now available simulator captures the available routes and the applicable travelling rules. Traffic schedules are inputs to the simulator, which attempts to perform the planned movements of the vehicles of various type and size. The data collected is analyzed and recommendations are made to management thus providing the means of adaptive/responsive planning and dispatching of vehicles and convoys.The simulator is undergoing real-life tests. It is expected that adaptive traffic planning will result in an improved usage of resources and will help maintain sustainable operation.

A novel two-stage process is investigated for preparing the fibrous copper powder used for conductive filler in conductive paste. Based on thermodynamic simulation of Cu(II) — C₂O₄2- -NH₃ — NH₄+ — H₂O system, the rod-shape copper oxalate salt is synthesized firstly with coordination precipitation method, using ammonium oxalate and a purified copper salt solution which could be from either primary or secondary copper-bearing resources. According to the results of XRD, element analysis and X-ray single crystal diffraction, it can be inferred that the composition of the copper oxalate salt is [Cu(NH₃)₃]C₂O₄ • xH₂O, and the NH₃ plays a significant role in the formation of rod-shape crystal. Secondly, the copper oxalate salt is decomposed to fibrous copper powder at 350°C in inert atmosphere. The thermo-decomposition procedure is characterized by TG-DSC-FTIR, XRD and SEM. It is found that the phase of copper oxalate salt transforms as following: [Cu(NH₃)₃]C₂O₄ • xH₂O→ [Cu(NH₃)₃]C₂O₄→ CuC₂O₄→Cu.

Copper anode slimes are a by-product of the electrolytic refining of anode copper, which contains significant amounts of silver, selenium, copper, and gold. Slimes are usually smelted to recover silver and gold. The thermodynamics of the smelting of such selenium-rich materials have received only little attention. In this work, the numerical values on the standard thermodynamic functions of Ag₂Se (Naumannite) were determined by the electromotive force (EMF) method in a solid-state galvanic cell with superionic conductor RbAg4I5 as the solid electrolyte. Ag₂Se was synthesized from pure elements in evacuated quartz glass ampoules and examined to be homogenous by SEM and EDS. According to the experimental data on the EMF versus temperature, the analytical equations were obtained for the polymorphic forms of Ag₂Se. The temperature of phase transformation from α-Ag₂Se to β-Ag₂Se is determined experimentally to be 407.7 K by interpolation of the EMF vs. T data, and the enthalpy of phase transformation is 6.06 kJ•mol-1. The Gibbs energy of formation for Ag₂Se is given by <math display='block'> <mtable columnalign='left'> <mtr> <mtd> <mi>&#x0394;</mi><msub> <mover accent='true'> <mi>G</mi> <mo stretchy='true'>&#x00AF;</mo> </mover> <mrow> <mi>&#x03B1;</mi><mo>&#x2212;</mo><mi>A</mi><msub> <mi>g</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msub> <mi>S</mi><mi>e</mi> </mrow> </msub> <mo>,</mo><mi>J</mi><mo>=</mo><mo>&#x2212;</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo> <mrow> <mn>40869.14</mn><mo>&#x00B1;</mo><mn>0.58129</mn> </mrow> <mo>)</mo></mrow><mo>&#x2212;</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo> <mrow> <mn>27.94759</mn><mo>&#x00B1;</mo><mn>1.53034</mn> </mrow> <mo>)</mo></mrow><mo>&#x22C5;</mo><mi>T</mi><mo>,</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo> <mrow> <mn>350</mn><mo>&#x003C;</mo><mi>T</mi><mo>/</mo><mi>K</mi><mo>&#x003C;</mo><mn>408</mn> </mrow> <mo>)</mo></mrow><mo>,</mo> </mtd> </mtr> <mtr> <mtd> <mi>&#x0394;</mi><msub> <mover accent='true'> <mi>G</mi> <mo stretchy='true'>&#x00AF;</mo> </mover> <mrow> <mi>&#x03B2;</mi><mo>&#x2212;</mo><mi>A</mi><msub> <mi>g</mi> <mn>2</mn> </msub> <mi>S</mi><mi>e</mi> </mrow> </msub> <mo>,</mo><mi>J</mi><mo>=</mo><mo>&#x2212;</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo> <mrow> <mn>35062.17</mn><mo>&#x00B1;</mo><mn>0.09895</mn> </mrow> <mo>)</mo></mrow><mo>&#x2212;</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo> <mrow> <mn>42.17847</mn><mo>&#x00B1;</mo><mn>0.21827</mn> </mrow> <mo>)</mo></mrow><mo>&#x22C5;</mo><mi>T</mi><mo>,</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo> <mrow> <mn>408</mn><mo>&#x003C;</mo><mi>T</mi><mo>/</mo><mi>K</mi><mo>&#x003C;</mo><mn>500</mn> </mrow> <mo>)</mo></mrow><mo>.</mo> </mtd> </mtr> </mtable> </math> $$\begin{gathered} \Delta {\overline G _{\alpha - A{g_2}Se}},J = - \left( {40869.14 \pm 0.58129} \right) - \left( {27.94759 \pm 1.53034} \right) \cdot T,\left( {350 < T/K < 408} \right), \hfill \\ \Delta {\overline G _{\beta - A{g_2}Se}},J = - \left( {35062.17 \pm 0.09895} \right) - \left( {42.17847 \pm 0.21827} \right) \cdot T,\left( {408 < T/K < 500} \right). \hfill \\ \end{gathered}$$

Tellurium is added to sulfur free-cutting steel in order to improve its machinability by inclusion control. However, the thermodynamic properties of the steel and inclusions have not yet been studied. In the present work, the dissolution of tellurium into steel was investigated. First, the equilibrium Te₂(g) partial pressure of solid tellurium was determined at 663–693 K by the transpiration method. The equilibration of molten iron under a controlled tellurium partial pressure, prepared by the transpiration method, was then performed at 1823 K. An approximately linear relationship between the tellurium content of the molten iron and the partial pressure of Te(g) was found at mass% Te < 0.01.

Acidic metal sulfate solutions are generated in a large scale in the hydro- and pyrometallurgical industries. Acid mine drainage has long been a significant environmental problem in coal and metal mining. Acidic metal sulfate solutions are also produced in steel industry. The demand of recycling and reuse of materials has increased significantly especially in EU. Dumping a neutralized deposit is not an option any more. Thus, several techniques of recycling and reuse of sulfuric acid and/or metal sulfates from the side streams are needed.When developing alternative solutions a better understanding of the thermodynamic behavior of MnSO₄-H₂SO₄-H₂O system is needed. In this study a thermodynamic model of this system is developed using Gibbs energy minimisation, Pitzer model and CALPHAD method to yield thermodynamically consistent set of values for solubility of metal sulfate in a wide temperature and concentration range.

Practicable thermodynamic description of sulfuric acid — water system is essential when modeling of acidic sulfate solutions required in process optimization and waste management. Traditional Pitzer model is limited up to 6 mol/kg (35w%) sulfuric acid solutions. Local composition models such as electrolyte NRTL can deal H₂SO₄-H₂O systems up to high concentrations but their use is practically limited to vapor-liquid equilibrium. Mole fraction based version of Pitzer equation is capable to describe H₂SO₄-H₂O system up to 40 mol/kg (80w%) acid concentration at temperatures range from 328 K (55°C) down to 200 K but the number parameters is quite extensive for practical purposes. Recently developed NPL Pitzer model has proved to be capable to describe sulfuric acid -water system in temperature range 0–55 °C using only five parameters with simple temperature dependency of a+b/T. The capabilities of NPL Pitzer model is demonstrated here in wide temperature range up to 40 mol/kg (80w%) solutions with H₂SO₄-H₂O and H₂SO₄-FeSO₄-H₂O systems.

Based on thermodynamic data, this paper analyzed the feasibility of removing fluoride in the waste acid solution using lead ions. Lead-fluoride ion-water system E-log[F-] diagram and the solubility curve of lead fluoride at 25°C were drawn. It was found that insoluble PbF₂ only exists stably in a certain concentration range of fluoride ion. With the increase of lead ion concentration, the stable area for solid lead fluoride expands and the total fluoride ion concentration decreases. Therefore, it is possible to remove fluoride ion in the waste acid solution lead ion.

Climate change mitigation in the materials sector faces a twin challenge: satisfying rapidly rising global demand for materials while significantly curbing greenhouse-gas emissions. Process efficiency improvement and recycling can contribute to reducing emissions per material output; however, long-term material demand and scrap availability for recycling depend fundamentally on the dynamics of societies’ stocks of products in use, an issue that has been largely neglected in climate science. Here, we show that aluminium in-use stock patterns set essential boundary conditions for future emission pathways, which has significant implications for mitigation priority setting. If developing countries follow industrialized countries in their aluminium stock patterns, a 50% emission reduction by 2050 below 2000 levels cannot be reached even under very optimistic recycling and technology assumptions. The target can be reached only if future global per-capita aluminium stocks saturate at a level much lower than that in present major industrialized countries. As long as global in-use stocks are growing rapidly, radical new technologies in primary production (for example, inert anode and carbon capture and storage) have the greatest impact in emission reduction; however, their window of opportunity is closing once the stocks begin to saturate and the largest reduction potential shifts to post-consumer scrap recycling.

With a mandate to reach 20/20/20 targets, new strategies are now focusing on the increased use of electricity to power transportation. Particularly in major urban areas of the EU, capillary use of electric vehicles are being encouraged, however, as these vehicles will be powered by the grid, there is always the risk that load peaks will occur. This work is just one of several being developed as part of the 23.9 MLN Euros INGRID European project started in July 2012, which combines solid-state high-density hydrogen storage systems with advanced ICT technologies for distribution grids. One possible solution which has been designed, is an off-grid utility to store renewable electricity captured from wind/solar sources and a re-charging point for full battery electric cars. This work shows the preliminary financial assessment of two business models for the Park-for-Recharging concept to promote green e-mobility as a more convenient and economical means of by-car transport.

To establish a knowledge base for new recycling processes of critical elements, recycling-orientated product characterization for Electric and Electronic Equipment (EEE) can be used as a tool. This paper focuses on necessary data and procedures for a successful characterization and provides information about existing scientific work. The usage of this tool is illustrated for two application: Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels. In the first case it could be shown that Neodymium and other Rare Earth Elements are concentrated in magnets (25% by weight) and contribute largely to the end demand of Neodymium. Nevertheless, recycling is limited by the difficult liberation and competing other target metals contained in HDD. In the second case it could be shown that also for this application the usage of Indium is concentrated in LCDs, but unlike in magnets the concentration is lower (200 ppm). The design of LCDs with two glued glass layers and the Indium-Tin-Oxide layer in between make the Indium inaccessible for hydro-metallurgical recovery, the glass content puts energetic limitations on pyro-metallurgical processes. For the future technical development of recycling infrastructure we need an in depth understanding of product design and recycling relevant parameters for product characterization focusing on new target metals. This product-centered approach allows also re-think traditional “design for recycling” approaches.

The designers of products subject to the European regulations on waste have an obligation to improve the recyclability of their products from the very first design stages. The statutory texts refer to ISO standard 22 628, which proposes a method to calculate vehicle recyclability. There are several scientific studies that propose other calculation methods as well. Yet the feedback from the CREER club, a group of manufacturers and suppliers expert in ecodesign and recycling, is that the product recyclability calculation method proposed in this standard is not satisfactory, since only a mass indicator is used, the calculation scope is not clearly defined, and common data on the recycling industry does not exist to allow comparable calculations to be made for different products. For these reasons, it is difficult for manufacturers to have access to a method and common data for calculation purposes.A critical analysis of the standard and the various calculation methods identified in scientific journals was performed. An initial discussion brought to light several possible scopes of calculation. Additional indicators, such as quality loss or economic value loss, would be complementary to the mass indicator. Case studies were performed to compare these different methods. A new method and its scope of calculation are proposed in order to develop a reference method.GlossaryELV: End-of-life vehicleWEEE: Waste Electrical and Electronic EquipmentPRM: Primary raw materialSM: Secondary materialSRM: Secondary raw material

It is generally recognised that the grades of metallic ores are falling globally. This trend can be expected to increase the life cycle-based energy requirement for primary metal production due to the additional amount of material that must be handled and treated in the mining and mineral processing stages of the metal production life cycle. Rock (or whole ore) smelting has been suggested as a possible alternative processing route for low grade ores with a potentially lower energy intensity and environmental impact than traditional processing routes. In this processing route, the beneficiation stage is eliminated along with its associated energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but this is partially offset by the need for more solid material to be handled and heated up to smelting temperatures. A life cycle assessment study was carried out to assess the potential energy and greenhouse gas benefits of a conceptual flowsheet of the rock smelting process, using copper ore as an example. Recovery and utilisation of waste heat in the slag (via dry slag granulation) and offgas streams from the smelting step was also included in the study, with the waste heat being utilised either for thermal applications or electricity generation.

In France, a recently started project handled by the French geological survey (BRGM) is aimed at identifying interesting old mining wastes deposits at the national level and assessing the metal recovery potential of these dumps. By crossing several databases and information from BRGM archives, 95 old mining sites with sizeable tailings dumps were identified. Selection criteria used to draw up this list were chosen mainly on the basis of the “Criticality Report” compiled for the European Commission in 2010, in which 14 mineral raw materials — 12 critical metals- have been explicitly named as highly critical for the industrial development of the European Union. In most of these mines which date back hundreds of years or more, only a single or at best a couple of metals were extracted with processes whose performances were considerably lower than those used today. Knowing the type of ore commodities and the processes characteristics, it has been thus possible to assess the presence of valuable elements for each tailings dump. From this list an Ag-Pb French abandoned mine has then been selected as a case study to evaluate the potential of extraction of metals still remaining in the tailings with special focus on Ag and Sb. A global site characterization methodology is proposed which can be extrapolated to other sites according to key parameters.

Despite of importance of phosphorous for agricultural food production and for the chemical industry, it is present in nature only as a trace element, and what is worse is that high-quality ores are drastically decreased.It is therefore important to consider the quantity and availability of untapped phosphorous resources. One of the possible candidates would be some steel-making slags because the total amount of phosphorous in such slags in Japan is comparable to the imported amount. Such the slags consist of phosphorous rich (more than 10 mass%) and free phases, the each of which can be separated under the strong magnetic field after pulverization. The separated phosphorous-rich phase is possibly utilized as a new phosphorous resource and the residual matrix can be recycled to iron and steel-making processes as flux.One of authors has proposed the novel evaluation method of recyclability of materials in urban mine in terms of total materials requirement (TMR), that is, the TMR for recycling (urban ore TMR, UO-TMR).In many of industry, phosphoric acid is rather preferable to elemental phosphorous. Thus the aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of phosphoric acid derived from a steel-making slag compared with that from natural ore from the viewpoint of TMR.The TMR of phosphoric acid produced from natural phosphorous ore (NO-TMR) and recycled from a steel-making slag (UO-TMR) using strong static magnetic field were estimated and compared. Furthermore, not only TMRs of phosphoric acid but also those of by-products such as gypsum were estimated as well.As the results of estimation, the NO-TMR of phosphoric acid was estimated to be 6.0~11.8 kg/kg and UO-TMR was 5.6~29.4 kg/kg. The fluctuation is ascribed to utilization efficiency of by-products. These results mean that the steelmaking slag has potential as new phosphorous resource in terms of TMR.TMR can be thought of as the indicator that can evaluate how much mining sites are developed to obtain resources. This means that the degree of self-sufficiency of phosphorous from two resources can be evaluated by analyzing the country-by-country breakdown of TMR for these materials.

The present study evaluates the environmental impacts of a recycling scheme for gravels from building concretes wastes, in which the liberated aggregates are reused in structural concretes while the residual mortar fines are sent to the raw mill of a clinker kiln.The evaluation follows a life-cycle analysis approach performed according to the ISO standard 14040, and whose scope encompasses the production of clinker through a dry kiln technology, the mining processes of the raw materials needed in the kiln, the extraction of round and crushed natural aggregates, and the crushing of concrete wastes using usual jaw crushers or pulsed-power electrical fragmentation. Insofar as possible, the inventory data are collected at the national scale of France and are recovered from the supplier of the fragmentation device, from local quarries and from an estimated mean-technology of clinker production. The choice of the impact assessment indicators is restricted to midpoints according to a problem-oriented methodology, and primarily focuses on a potential reduction in the natural resources depletion and in the CO₂ emissions. The study specifically addresses the influence of (i) the amount of recovered cement paste added to the kiln raw mill, and (ii) the distance of transportation modalities of concrete wastes to the crushing processes and of the recycled aggregates to construction sites. The results establish links between significant environmental gains and the various distances of transportations that intervene in the alternative processing of concrete wastes. These links will be probed more deeply in a future work.

A model was developed to predict the synergistic effect of Cyanex 302 and D2EHPA on co-extraction and separation of nickel and cadmium from sulfate leach liquors of spent Ni-Cd batteries with the aim of increasing separation efficiency. The stoichiometric coefficient of cadmium was determined for sole D2EHPA and three different D2EHPA to Cyanex 302 ratios by applying the slope analysis method. The experimental data of cadmium extraction in pH range of 0.5–3, temperature of 25, 40 and 60 °C and various proportions of organic solvents (D2EHPA and Cyanex 302) were used to propose correlations of distribution coefficient of cadmium by multiple linear regression. The equation was found via multiple linear regression for the estimation of distribution coefficient of cadmium and the result showed that the proposed correlation is in good agreement with the experimental values. The extraction equilibrium constants, enthalpy change, and entropy change of the extraction reaction were also determined.

Lead and lead-alloy foams have been investigated in this research. In particular low-cost techniques for the direct production of lead-based electrodes have been analyzed and discussed in this work. The relevance of the main process parameters (powder compacting pressure, granulometry, base metal composition, sintering temperature and time) have been focused and the effect on foam morphology has been discussed too. In particular “Sintering and Dissolution Process” (SDP) and “Replication Process” (RP) have been employed and suitable modified. Both spherical urea and NaCl have been adopted in the SDP method. In the replication process it has been evidenced that the viscosity of the melt is fundamental. Furthermore the research examines lead recovery and recycling of exhaust batteries into foam-based electrodes. A novel method for the direct conversion of Pb scrap into lead foam is discussed too.

The characteristics of various components in waste lead acid battery are analyzed in this paper. The present status and the study progress situation in industry production and research field of recycling of waste lead acid battery and lead paste used broken-separation technology are introduced. The comparison of advantages and disadvantages in different industry processes is carried. The advantages of redox bath smelting of lead concentrate and lead paste are analyzed. The method of redox bath smelting will be a low-carbon, environmentally friendly and efficient processes of secondary lead production and can be intensive to desulfurize for high temperature pool.

This paper is a brief overview of the role of inducing the nucleated precipitation of copper and cyanide in a flashtube serpentine reactor, using sodium sulfide as the precipitate and sulfuric acid as pH control. The results showed that pH had a great effect on copper cyanide removal efficiency and the optimum pH was about 3 to 3.5. At this pH value copper cyanide removal efficiency could be achieved above 97 and 99 %, when influent copper concentration ions were 650 and 900 ppm respectively. In this process the cyanide associated with the copper, zinc, iron cyanide complexes are released as HCN gas under strong acidic conditions, allowing it to be recycled back to the cyanidation process as free cyanide.

The paper discusses problems associated with the existing crisis of water scarcity in the modern conditions of the global water use. Available alternative sources of fresh water may be underground and surface waters of the North and the Arctic. Investigated the current situation and condition of fresh water resources in the technological and industrial development of the North and Arctic. The necessity of developing and using green technologies and measures to prevent pollution of surface and ground water from industrial sectors of the Northern regions is shown. Studied modern technologies and techniques for monitoring groundwater and determination of their age in order to avoid and prevent the effects of environmental contaminants. The ways of use of innovative production technologies of fresh and clean water of north Russia for sustainable development, and delivery of water in the needy regions of the world are investigated.

In the process of precipitating ammonium polyvanadate (APV) to produce vanadium pentoxide in Pan-steel in China, rest waste water usually contains about 24~333mg/L V(V), 2~100g/L Cr(VI),20~500mg/L Si(IV) and 20~100g/L Na₂SO₄. In order to recover valuable and also toxic metal ions contained in the waste water, effective extraction method of using anion exchange resin was realized to extract Vanadium selectively, leading to effective separation between vanadium and chromium. To ensure vanadium was absorbed by the resin, V(V) and Cr(VI) were reduced to V(IV) and Cr(III) by NaHSO₃, respectively, and then V(IV) was oxidized by H₂O₂ to V(V) anions. Effects of temperature, solution pH, concentration of ions and absorbing time on vanadium absorption rate were investigated. Chromium was precipitated from rest solution while vanadium was eluted from resin by NaOH solution and then precipitated. Results showed that vanadium recovery of 73% could be obtained in optimized condition. The resin could be regenerated by 3% hydrochloric acid, which indicated the recyclability of the resin and thus low cost of this established method.

Pt-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles catalysts were synthesized and evaluated for UV photocatalytic degradation of phenol and 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) in synthetic wastewater solutions. The catalysts were synthesized by immobilizing colloidal Pt nanoparticles onto titanium dioxide (rutile TiO₂). Several analytical tools, such as standard BET isotherms, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), were used to investigate the specific surface area, structure, and size distribution of the catalysts and its components. The catalytic activity was measured in a batch photoreactor containing solutions of phenol and 2-CP independently, with UV irradiation of 450 W. UV-visible spectrophotometer was used for analyzing the concentration of phenols in solution at different time intervals during the photodegradation experiment. Parameters affecting the photocatalytic process such as concentration of the catalyst, solution pH, and phenols concentration have been investigated. Results obtained revealed that Pt/TiO₂ showed a higher activity for UV- photocatalytic degradation of both phenol and 2-CP pollutants in solution (as compared to the rutile TiO₂).. The degradation efficiency values were 87.7 and 100% for both of phenol and 2-Cp, respectively, under optimized conditions (0.5 g/L catalyst with a pollutant concentration of 50 mg/L after irradiation time of 180 minutes).

The transition towards resource efficient, closed-loop economies is an urgent necessity as our world is facing resource shortages and unprecedented environmental challenges. Research groups in Metallurgy, Geology, Chemical Engineering, Building Materials, Chemistry, Economics, Process Psychology and Law at KU Leuven (Belgium) have recently connected their expertise in the area of recovery and recycling of inorganic materials into a structural collaboration, the ‘Sustainable Inorganic Materials Management’ (SIM2) program. This has led to a growth and an intensification of research projects as well as local and international research cooperation, propelling SIM2 to a flagship topic for the involved research groups and for the KU Leuven as a whole.In our presentation we will highlight the vision, the organization in collaborative programs as well as the research topics of the program at KU Leuven. In addition we will elucidate the role of SIM2 in co-organizing a potential urban mining node for an EIT-KIC on critical raw materials.

Metals enable sustainability through their use and their recyclability. However, various factors can affect the Resource Efficiency of Metal Processing and Recycling. Some typical factors that enable Resource Efficiency include and arranged under the drivers of sustainability: Environment (Maximize Resource Efficiency — Energy, Recyclates, Materials, Water, Sludges, Emissions, Land); Economic Feasibility (BAT & Recycling Systems Simulation / Digitalization, Product vis-à-vis Material Centric Recycling); and Social — Licence to Operate (Legislation, consumer, policy, theft, manual labour.). In order to realize this primary production has to be linked systemically with typical actors in the recycling chain such as Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Recyclers & Collection, Physical separation specialists as well as process metallurgical operations that produce high value metals, compounds and products that recycle back to products. This is best done with deep knowledge of multi-physics, technology, product & system design, process control, market, life cycle management, policy, to name a few. The combination of these will be discussed as Design for Sustainability (DfS) and Design for Recycling (DfR) applications.

The non-energy extractive industry (NEEI) of the EU-25 generated a direct turnover of about €40 billion, and provided employment to about 250000 people in 16629 companies in 2004. The use of primary raw materials in the production of other branches of EU industry means they have a central role in guaranteeing industrial and economic sustainability. Nevertheless current demand exceeds production, and so the EU is heavily dependent on minerals and metals imports. In this context of securing access to metals, turning mining wastes into new resources of currently unexploited valuable metals is an important challenge. The mining wastes can contain base and precious metals, but also metalloids and rare earth elements that are nowadays considered as highly critical for the industrial development of the European Union. Nevertheless, the development of alternative routes to conventional processing is still required in order to decrease the cost associated to the treatment of these unconventional resources which are more complex in composition and with lower grades.

Pistachio nut shells and Rice husk, a biomass residue, were investigated as adsorbents for the platinum uptake from synthetically prepared dilute chloroplatinic acid solutions. The effects of the different uptake parameters on platinum uptake (%) were studied in detail on a batch sorption. Before the pistachio nut shell material was activated, platinum uptake (%) was poor compared with rice husk. However, after the pistachio nut shell material was activated at 1000°C under an argon atmosphere, the platinum uptake (%) increased two-fold. The pistachio nut shell (inactivated and activated) and rice husk were characterized by Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR).The uptake equilibrium data were best fitted with the Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum uptake capacities, Q_max, at 25°C were found to be 38.31 and 42.02 mg/g for the activated pistachio nut shell and rice husk, respectively.

Printed circuit boards are found in all electric and electronic equipment and are particularly problematic to recycle because of the heterogeneous mix of organic material, metals, and fiberglass. Additionally, printed circuit boards can be considered a secondary source of copper and bacterial leaching can be applied to copper recovery. This study investigated the influence of initial concentration of ferrous iron on bacterial leaching to recover copper from printed circuit boards using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans-LR. Printed circuit boards from computers were comminuted using a hammer mill. The powder obtained was magnetically separated and the non magnetic material used in this study. A shake flask study was carried out on the non magnetic material using a rotary shaker at 30°C, 170 rpm and different initial concentrations of ferrous iron (gL−1): 6.75; 13.57 and 16.97. Abiotic controls were also run in parallel. The monitored parameters were pH, Eh, ferrous iron concentration and copper extraction (spectroscopy of atomic absorption). The results showed that using initial concentration of ferrous iron of 6.75gL−1 were extracted 99% of copper by bacterial leaching.

Today PGM-recovery from spent catalysts is a standard procedure. Nevertheless still big amounts of these materials remain untreated. Furthermore the state of the art process is a very expensive solution and does not offer a recovery of all valuable materials.The present paper introduces a hydrometallurgical recovery method for PGM from spent catalysts either from petroleum or automotive industry developed in cooperation with the company Railly&Hill.It offers the opportunity for a locally small scale solution, with the advantage of short transport distances as well as low logistic costs. Moreover the energy consumption is lower than in other state of the art processes. Due to a closed loop of the leaching media, nearly no new residues are generated. Furthermore it offers the opportunity to recover rare earths from the wash coat, like cerium and with this forming an additional valuable product.

The demand for lithium-ion batteries has been increasing due to the increasing demand for laptop computers, cellular phones, automobiles, etc. The positive electrode of the lithium-ion secondary battery is mainly made of lithium oxides well as cobalt, nickel, manganese, etc. Thus, an effective recycling method not only would collect cobalt and lithium, but also would enable the separation of other materials from the spent batteries. In this work, a novel processing flow sheet is put forward and its efficiency is evaluated. The aim was to obtain pure fractions of various constituents.

Increased demand of metals has driven the accelerated mining and metallurgical production in recent years, causing fast depletion of primary metals resources. On the contrary, the mining and metallurgical industry generates large amount of solid residues and waste such as tailings, slags, flue dust and leach residues, with relative low valuable metal contents. On the other hand, end-of-life (EoL) consumer products form another significant resources. The current technology and processes for primary metals production are not readily applicable for direct metals extraction from these waste materials, and special adaptation and tailor-made processes are required. In the present paper, various solid waste resources are reviewed, and current technologies and R&D trends are discussed. The recent research at author’s group is illustrated for providing potential solutions to future resource problems, including metal recovery from MSW incinerator bottom ashes, zinc recovery from industrial ashes and residues, and rare earth metals recovery from EoL permanent magnets.

Today’s technology employs virtually the entire periodic table. The stocks and flows of the major metals, essentially unknown a decade ago, are now reasonably well quantified. Those cycles can be used to generate on overview of societal metal use. A key issue is whether scarcity implies long-term shortages or unavailability. To address this issue, a detailed methodology for generating a reliable assessment of the criticality of metals has been completed, making extensive use of peer-reviewed datasets and analytical approaches from the fields of geology, international trade, political science, and international policy, among others. This criticality evaluation has three components — Supply Risk, Environmental Implications, and Vulnerability to Supply Restriction, each of which is itself the composite of several metrics, as shown below.

The production of mineral and metal commodities results in large quantities of wastes (solid, liquid and gaseous) at each stage of value-adding — from mining to manufacturing. Waste production (both consumer and non-consumer) is a major contributor to environmental degradation. Approaches to waste management in the minerals industry are largely ‘after the event’. These have moved progressively from foul-and-flee to dilute-and-disperse to end end-of-pipe treatments. There is now a need to move to approaches which aim to reduce or eliminate waste production at source. Modern waste management strategies include the application of cleaner production principles, the use of wastes as raw materials, the reengineering of process flowsheets to minimise waste production, and use of industrial symbioses through industrial ecology to convert wastes into useful by-products. This paper examines how these can be adopted by the minerals industry, with some recent examples. The financial, technical, systemic and regulatory drivers and barriers are also examined.

Livelihood systems are the key areas of the Arctic and depend on its natural and economic extremality. Development and improvement studies of livelihood systems of the Arctic Zone were carried out taking into account the expected changes in climate that lead to the strengthening of the role of marine factors, economic and social development. The paper discusses various scenarios of livelihood systems of the Arctic zone. Innovation scenario includes primarily the use of scientific and technical achievements and high-tech processes, development of natural resources of the Arctic shelf. Innovation scenario involves close cooperation of natural resources in the Arctic. The inertial scenario is based on conservative estimates of projected growth in key socio-economic indicators of the Arctic zone. To improve livelihood systems of the Russian Arctic there is needed an efficient interaction of all the subjects of economic and social development of the Arctic zone of Russia.

Reprocessing of aluminum production byproducts or dross for use in secondary production presents a particular challenge to the aluminum industry. While use of these non-traditional secondary materials is of interest due to their reduced energy and economic burden over virgin counterparts, these materials necessitate the use of particular furnaces, specialized handling and processing conditions. Therefore, to make use of them firms may pursue use of an intermediate recycling facility that can reprocess the secondary materials into a liquid product. After reprocessing downstream aluminum remelters could incorporate the liquid products into their aluminum alloy production schedules. Energy and environmental benefits result from delivering the products as liquid but coordination challenges result because of the energy cost to maintain the liquid. Further coordination challenges result from the need to establish long term recycling production plans in the presence of long term downstream aluminum remelter production uncertainty and inherent variation in the daily order schedule of the downstream aluminum remelters. In this context a fundamental question arises, considering the metallurgical complexities of dross reprocessing, what is the value of operating a coordinated set of by-product reprocessing plants and remelting cast houses?

Recently, the issue of sustainable resource management has been increasingly recognized. In order to increase resource efficiency, Castro et al. (2004) pointed out an importance to understand the interconnections between the materials’ processing routes and their thermodynamic constraints, and discussed losses due to contaminations during recycling. One of the dominant solutions to avoid such losses or contaminants is knowledge about the substance flows in material cycles. Material flow analysis (MFA) is a powerful tool to understand the resource consumption and material cycle in the national economy. Some advanced MFA studies discussed the complex web of metal flows and their linkages (Nakamura et al. 2007, 2008). Discussions on the limitations of impurity removal and the recoverability of elements in the recycling of EoL metal products, however, have been insufficient even in conventional MFA studies.

Special steels, which have been imparted various properties by the addition of alloying elements, have become increasingly important as materials for human life in recent years. As the largest industrial consumer of special steel materials, the motor vehicle industry requires large volumes of various types of special steel for vehicle production. Scrap containing base metals and alloying elements is generated from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). In current scrap treatment processes, alloying elements in steel materials are rarely considered, instead becoming impurities in steel recycling processes at electric arc furnaces (EAF) and losing their worth.In this study, with the aim of avoiding loss of useful steel alloying elements, we discuss effective treatment of ELVs for efficient recycling and use of steel alloying elements using waste input-output material flow analysis (WIO-MFA).

Phosphorus is present only as a trace element on the Earth, but is one of the important strategic resources for agricultural food production and for the chemical industry. Natural phosphate ore is traded worldwide, mainly as a raw material for fertilizer. Approximately 147 × 103 kt of phosphate ore was mined in the world during 2005. Of this, 24.7% (36.3 × 103 kt) was produced in the USA, 20.7% (30.4 × 103 kt) in China, and 17.1% (25.2 × 103 kt) in Morocco, while there are essentially no deposits of phosphate ore in Japan or the EU (USGS,2012). It is of concern that, due to growing world demand for fertilizers, deposits of high-grade phosphate ore could be exhausted within the next 100 years (Vaccari 2009), and the average price of the ore in 2008 was approximately doubled that in 2007. Concerning the restricted supplies of phosphorus resource, it is important to consider the quantity and availability of phosphorus resources that currently remain untapped.