Separation, Beneficiation, and Purification of Carbonaceous Minerals and Materials

A special issue of Separations (ISSN 2297-8739). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials in Separation Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2024) | Viewed by 7712

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Coal Processing and Efficient Utilization (Ministry of Education), China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Interests: flotation kinetics; nanobubble; ultrasound cavitation; flotation kinetics; emulsified oily collectors; recycling of spent LIBs
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Guest Editor
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Interests: graphite; flotation; emulsion; adsorption; purification; entrainment
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Interests: coal flotation; ultrasound; cavitation; waste treatment; graphite and graphene; adsorption

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Carbon is an indispensable raw material for industry and life. Natural carbon exists mainly in the form of coal, graphite and other minerals. Due to the continuous mining and consumption of high-quality carbon minerals, the available carbon sources are mainly of a low grade and difficult to separate, and there is an urgent need to develop efficient separation technology for difficult to select carbon minerals. At the same time, industrial production produces a lot of waste carbon materials, and some of the waste carbon is harmful and toxic, which will cause great damage to the ecological environment if not disposed of appropriately. The development of efficient separation, beneficiation and purification methods for low-grade carbonaceous minerals and waste carbon materials has gradually become an urgent issue.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to collect the latest research on the separation, beneficiation and purification of various carbonaceous minerals and materials. Separation and recovery techniques may include physical methods such as crushing, screening, grinding, re-election and flotation, as well as chemical methods of hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy.

We welcome innovative ideas from researchers on the separation and recovery of carbonaceous minerals and materials, and share the latest research results in this Special Issue.

Dr. Xiangning Bu
Dr. Yangshuai Qiu
Dr. Yuran Chen
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • carbonaceous minerals
  • spent carbon materials
  • recycling
  • purification
  • hydrometallurgy
  • pyrometallurgy
  • mineral processing

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 12844 KiB  
Article
Effects of Mechanical Stirring and Ultrasound Treatment on the Separation of Graphite Electrode Materials from Copper Foils of Spent LIBs: A Comparative Study
by Xibing Ren, Zheng Tong, Yanshan Dai, Guoying Ma, Zhongze Lv, Xiangning Bu, Muhammad Bilal, Ali Behrad Vakylabad and Ahmad Hassanzadeh
Separations 2023, 10(4), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10040246 - 9 Apr 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2843
Abstract
In this paper, mechanical stirring and ultrasonic treatment are used to separate graphite electrode materials from copper foils in recycling spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Firstly, the effects of ultrasonic power (60–180 W), ultrasonic time (1–8 min), stirring speed (420–2000 rpm), and stirring time [...] Read more.
In this paper, mechanical stirring and ultrasonic treatment are used to separate graphite electrode materials from copper foils in recycling spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Firstly, the effects of ultrasonic power (60–180 W), ultrasonic time (1–8 min), stirring speed (420–2000 rpm), and stirring time (1–8 min) on the abscission rate of active material on copper foil were studied. It was found that the peeling-off ratio of electrode material under ultrasonic treatment was 91.34% compared with stirring treatment (84.22%). The removal of electrode material from copper foil during stirring was mainly through mechanical scrubbing. As a comparison, the generation of the microjets induced by ultrasound, the local high-temperature and high-pressure environment, and the free radicals during ultrasonic treatment are the key factors to further improve electrode material removal efficiency. An integrated ultrasound-mechanical stirrer technique can achieve a high-efficient separation performance (approximately 100% peeling-off ratio) of anode electrode materials from copper foils. The effects of mechanical stirring speed, temperature, and treatment time on the peeling-off ratios of the ultrasound-mechanical stirrer-assisted system were investigated. Finally, the results of XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectrometer), XRD (X-ray diffraction), and SEM-EDS (scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) showed that the as-separated graphite electrode material had high purity and contained almost no copper foil impurities. Numerical simulation analyses briefly showed that the difference between pressure and ultrasonic temperature changes in the boundary between different anode layers (graphite on copper foil in aqueous solution) was the main effective factor in the considerable separation of graphite from copper anode foil under ultrasonic-assisted delamination. Full article
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13 pages, 4543 KiB  
Article
Recovery of Carbon and Cryolite from Spent Carbon Anode Slag Using a Grinding Flotation Process Based on Mineralogical Characteristics
by Jiawei Zheng, Song Wang, Xuexia Wang, Muhammad Bilal, Zhiming Zhang, Sijie Yang, Changkai Jing, Guangqian Xu and Chao Ni
Separations 2023, 10(3), 193; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10030193 - 12 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2206
Abstract
The aluminum electrolysis industry continually and unavoidably produces hazardous solid waste in the form of carbon anode slag. Carbon anode slag poses a serious environmental pollution risk, and it must be disposed of in a harmless manner. On the other hand, it contains [...] Read more.
The aluminum electrolysis industry continually and unavoidably produces hazardous solid waste in the form of carbon anode slag. Carbon anode slag poses a serious environmental pollution risk, and it must be disposed of in a harmless manner. On the other hand, it contains a few valuable resources, as well. In order for the aluminum electrolysis industry to develop in an environmentally friendly and high-quality manner, the harmless disposal of carbon anode slag and its resourceful utilization are of considerable importance. The selective comminution of carbon and cryolite particles in carbon anode slag can be effectively achieved with grinding pretreatment. However, the optimization study of grinding process parameters has yet to be investigated. Therefore, firstly, the mineralogical characteristics and existing mode of carbon anode slag from the perspective of mineralogical properties are analyzed in this study. Then, the effects of grinding time, grinding concentration, and steel ball diameter on the particle size of the ground product (γ−0.074 mm) are investigated using response surface analysis. The results showed that the effect of grinding time was the most significant, followed by grinding concentration and steel ball diameter. In addition, the performance of the multi-stage flotation process for separating the −0.074 mm ground product was analyzed. Cryolite with a purity of 93.12% and a carbon product with an ash content of 10.67% could be simultaneously obtained through multi-stage flotation. It should be pointed out that the deep dissociation and efficient recovery of fine undissociated particles still need to be further explored. Full article
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10 pages, 5404 KiB  
Article
Effects of Flotation Reagents on Flotation Kinetics of Aphanitic (Microcrystalline) Graphite
by Xinnan Hu, Zheng Tong, Jie Sha, Muhammad Bilal, Yujin Sun, Rui Gu, Chao Ni, Chaoqun Li and Yumeng Deng
Separations 2022, 9(12), 416; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9120416 - 7 Dec 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1812
Abstract
The flotation method is widely used for the preliminary beneficiation of aphanitic (microcrystalline) graphite. However, there is limited literature regarding the effects of flotation reagents on the flotation kinetics of aphanitic graphite. In this study, six commonly used flotation kinetic models were used [...] Read more.
The flotation method is widely used for the preliminary beneficiation of aphanitic (microcrystalline) graphite. However, there is limited literature regarding the effects of flotation reagents on the flotation kinetics of aphanitic graphite. In this study, six commonly used flotation kinetic models were used to fit the flotation experimental data of aphanitic graphite. The classical first-order model was found to be most suitable for describing flotation kinetics of aphanitic graphite. The modified flotation rate constant (Km) was then applied to evaluate the effects of collector, frother, and inhibitor on aphanitic graphite flotation kinetics. Compared to diesel oil and terpineol oil, kerosene and 2-octanol produced a greater Km. The highest Km was obtained at an inhibitor dosage of 15 mg/L. Full article
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