Recovery of Valuable Metals and Nonmetals from E-waste

Dear Colleagues,

E-waste is the fastest-growing solid waste stream worldwide, and contains large amounts of valuable metals. It is thus considered an attractive polymetallic secondary source and known as “urban mine”. Particularly, the purity of precious metals in waste printed circuit boards is much higher than that of those in rich ore, sparking intensive interest in researchers to extract valuable metals from e-waste. 

However, in addition to these valuable metals, many residual heavy metals (e.g., Cd, Hg, Pb, Cr) and hazardous materials in e-waste may lead to increased toxicity in the ecosystem. Environment-friendly, efficient, and cost-effective recovery technologies have been an urgent demand for the recycling of metals from e-waste. Moreover, the high-valued reutilization of nonmetallic materials in e-waste is also crucially important for the comprehensive recycling of e-waste and the development of circular economy.

This Special Issue of Molecules is designed to gather scientific papers on the recovery of valuable metallic and nonmetallic materials from e-waste. In this Special Issue, original research articles, short communications, and review articles are welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Physical/chemical recycling techniques (pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, electrometallurgy);
• Biological processes for metal recovery (bioleaching, biosorption, phytoremediation, bio-electrochemical systems);
• Recovery of valuable materials from waste printed circuit boards;
• New green technologies for materials recycling from e-waste;
• Strategies for overcoming the toxicity of e-waste;
• High-value reutilization of nonmetallic materials in e-waste;
• Sustainable composites based on nonmetallic materials in e-waste.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Recycling.

Dr. Dechao Hu
Dr. Zhixin Jia
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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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. Molecules 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 2700 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.

• electronic waste
• metal recovery
• waste printed circuit boards
• hydrometallurgy
• chemical leaching
• bioleaching
• waste management
• reutilization of nonmetallic materials