Minerals Engineering最新文献

{"title":"Critical metals recovery from titanium dioxide waste acids (TDWA): A brief review","authors":"Bingbing Liu ,&nbsp;Yunyun Chen ,&nbsp;Peidong Yang ,&nbsp;Shengpeng Su ,&nbsp;Wenjuan Wang ,&nbsp;Shuzhen Yang ,&nbsp;Yanfang Huang ,&nbsp;Hu Sun ,&nbsp;Guihong Han","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109781","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109781","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Titanium dioxide waste acid (TDWA) is an inevitable hazardous by-product in the titanium dioxide (TiO₂) production. The substantial emission volume of TDWA, characterized by high acidity and diverse metal compositions, presents considerable risks of environmental pollution and resource wastage. The metals recovery from TDWA has emerged as a critical challenge for the green sustainable development of TiO₂ industry. After literature analysis, numerous literatures are focused on the separation of a single metal. Therefore, this work systematically reviews the recovery technologies of simplex Fe, Ti, V, and Sc from TDWA, including the chemical precipitation, solvent extraction, ion exchange, liquid membrane separation, and membrane electrolysis. Moreover, the combined technologies for multi-metal separation, including multi-step selective extraction, co-extraction and step stripping, and extraction-precipitation combined technology, are also highlighted. Solvent extraction has good adaptability to multi-metals by using various extractants. Future research should prioritize the development of selective extractants and novel technologies for the separation of metals from the high-acidity and low-concentration systems. The synergistic recovery of critical rare metals such as niobium (Nb) and yttrium (Y) should also be concerned. This review provides guidance for the selection of appropriate methods for metal recovery from TDWA.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109781"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145103935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Proposing a circular economy for mine tailings: using them as catalysts in the treatment of landfill leachate","authors":"Rodrigo Poblete ,&nbsp;Vicente Salinas ,&nbsp;Manuel I. Maldonado","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109782","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109782","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mine tailings (MT), a significant by-product of the mining industry, pose environmental risks due to their metal content and social hazards when they are located near urban areas. However, their mineral composition, rich in feldspars, quartz, phyllosilicates, and TiO₂, offers potential for reuse within a circular economy framework. In this context, this study evaluates the catalytic application of MT in a sonophotocatalytic process to treat mature landfill leachate (LL), a recalcitrant effluent with low biodegradability. Using a full factorial design, the effects of catalyst load, hydrogen peroxide concentration, and pH of the solution on the removal of total organic carbon (TOC), Chemical Oxygen Demand and aromatic compounds (Abs254) of the landfill leachate were assessed. Optimal conditions (2000 mg/L MT, 3000 mg/L H₂O₂, pH 3) led to 29.8 % and 50.2 % removal of TOC and aromatic compounds, respectively. Under these optimized physicochemical conditions applied for 3 h of treatment, the removal of TOC, COD, and aromatic compounds was 84.9 %, 69.6 %, and 88.7 %, respectively.</div><div>The biodegradability of treated landfill leachate improved significantly, exceeding 80 % in the Zahn-Wellens test, with no detectable leaching of metals from the catalyst. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of repurposing MT as photocatalysts for landfill leachate treatment, offering a sustainable solution to two pressing waste streams.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109782"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145103934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physics-Informed hierarchical reasoning (PIHR): A structured framework for generalizable fault diagnosis in industrial thickeners","authors":"Shuangcheng Du ,&nbsp;Hongjiang Wang ,&nbsp;Zechen Sheng ,&nbsp;Mingxu Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109778","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109778","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the minerals processing industry, ensuring the safe and stable operation of thickeners is a primary objective. However, their complex dynamic characteristics present challenges for conventional monitoring systems in providing early warnings and diagnosing faults, especially under novel operating conditions. Existing diagnostic methods generally lack the generalization capability for unseen faults. They can exhibit limitations in resolving diagnostic ambiguity, identifying concurrent faults, or distinguishing between process anomalies and sensor failures, which can lead to delayed warnings. To address this, this study proposes a Physics-Informed Hierarchical Reasoning (PIHR) framework for thickener diagnostics, centered on a ’Decomposition-Analysis-Synthesis’ workflow. The architecture first decomposes the sensor data stream into distinct features intended to reflect different physical phenomena, such as slowly evolving bed compaction trends versus rapidly changing flocculation chemistry instability. Subsequently, specialized analytical paths, including a Transformer, assess the morphology of these trends to distinguish between, for example, linear and exponential growth, while other paths quantify the system’s degree of instability. Finally, the model performs a dynamic weighted fusion of this evidence based on physics-inspired heuristics (e.g., ’a trend is of greater significance during stable conditions’) to assess the operational risk. PIHR’s performance was evaluated across multiple dimensions. Quantitatively, it achieved a Macro F1-score of 0.885 in zero-shot diagnosis on fault types unseen during training, outperforming the baseline models. It also increased the fault warning lead time by over 12 min on average, while maintaining a True Positive Rate (TPR) above 0.91 and a False Positive Rate (FPR) below 0.015. Qualitatively, case studies illustrated the model’s ability to resolve diagnostic ambiguity, handle concurrent faults, and distinguish between process and sensor failures. Moreover, a physical consistency analysis indicated that the architecture extracts multivariate dynamic signatures from observational data that correlate with different physical states. Finally, its performance was evaluated in a 60-day continuous industrial deployment, where the system delivered 14 valid early warnings with no missed detections and assisted in averting a rake-bogging incident.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109778"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145103937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improved suspension dewaterability using a novel pelleting flocculation device","authors":"Yuxuan Luo ,&nbsp;Nilanka I.K. Ekanayake ,&nbsp;Negin Amini ,&nbsp;Ellen M. Moon ,&nbsp;Peter J. Scales ,&nbsp;Anthony D. Stickland","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109762","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109762","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The decline in ore grades and increasing clay content in ore bodies present significant dewatering challenges for the mining industry, as finer grinding is required to liberate target minerals. This results in the production of fine mineral gangue, including clay minerals, which are discharged as tailings. Tailings are typically treated with flocculants to aggregate fine particles, improving settling and permeability. However, flocculation forms strong particle networks with reduced compressibility, constraining thickened slurry density and filter cake moisture.</div><div>This study demonstrates a novel vertical screw pelletiser prototype for pelleting flocculation of kaolin suspensions, aimed at improving both compressibility and permeability by forming compact pelletised aggregates. Using an oil-in-water emulsion and a polymer flocculant for adhesion, kaolin particles with a Sauter diameter of 1.4 µm were aggregated and pelletised into centimetre-sized pellets with solids fraction up to 0.15 v/v (0.31 w/w).</div><div>The dewatering properties of the pellets were quantified and modelled using comprehensive dewaterability analysis. Compared to the conventional flocculation methods, which typically improve permeability at the expense of compressibility, pelleting flocculation improved both the compressibility and permeability. The thickener modelling showed that, to achieve an underflow solids concentration of 0.20 v/v (0.40 w/w), systems fed with pelletised aggregates could operate at a solid flux 13 times higher than those using conventional flocculated aggregates. Similarly, to achieve a filter cake solids concentration of 0.40 v/v (0.64 w/w), filters fed with pelletised aggregates required 16 % less filtration area and 18 % shorter filtration time compared to conventional flocculated feeds. This work highlights pelleting flocculation as a promising alternative to conventional flocculation, resulting in significant improvements in the thickener performance and offering a practical solution to the challenges of processing fine and clay-rich tailings in mineral processing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"235 ","pages":"Article 109762"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145098390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gas holdup and flotation rate","authors":"J.E. Nesset ,&nbsp;Y.H. Tan ,&nbsp;J.A. Finch","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109770","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109770","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The paper has two parts. In the first, using flotation rate constant vs gas holdup data the suggestion that the high flotation rate in the Jameson^TM cell is due to the high gas holdup in the downcomer (up to 60 %) compared to flotation columns and mechanical cells (ca.15 %) is supported. However, the second part questions the reported gas holdup in mechanical machines arguing that gas holdup in the impeller zone (ε_gi) is the relevant metric. A method of estimating ε_gi exploiting dependence of power on aeration rate is introduced. Values of ε_gi comparable to the downcomer appear to be achieved. New mechanical machines that constrain the impeller zone in a separate chamber appear better able to exploit ε_gi to increase kinetics. An analogy is drawn with the downcomer representing a constrained jet environment. Arguing that the similarity between gas holdup in the downcomer and impeller zone should be reflected in similar bubble size, measurements in a Metso RCS^TM and Jameson^TM cell employing a modified gas superficial velocity did show similar trends.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109770"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145044173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustainable and efficient barite recovery from low-grade tailings waste: A combined and innovative solution for resource utilization","authors":"Yuanxing Yue ,&nbsp;Yongsheng Sun ,&nbsp;Xiaolong Zhang ,&nbsp;Jianping Jin ,&nbsp;Yanjun Li","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109767","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109767","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Barite-containing tailings represent a secondary barite resource characterized by substantial reserves and high recyclability. In this study, an innovative combined magnetic-gravity-flotation separation process was proposed for efficiently recovering barite from low-grade tailings waste. Low-intensity magnetic separation and high-gradient magnetic separation were sequentially employed to remove magnetic iron-bearing minerals. The non-magnetic fraction was subsequently subjected to shaking table separation to discard low-density gangue minerals, such as quartz. Through pre-enrichment via magnetic and gravity separation, the BaSO₄ grade increased from 7.92% to 74.43%, effectively upgrading the raw material quality. This pre-enrichment significantly reduced reagent consumption and operational costs in downstream flotation. Under optimized flotation conditions, a barite concentrate with 95.23% BaSO₄ purity was achieved, compliant with the first-class superior specifications outlined in China’s chemical industry standards for barite products. The mineral liberation analysis results indicated that the barite content in the concentrate reached 95.59%. The content of barite-poor intergrowth was less than 0.13%. This research provides a sustainable and efficient strategy for valorizing barite resources in industrial tailings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109767"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145044176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The efficient removal of dolomite from phosphate ores using a novel collector: Flotation selectivity and collecting mechanism","authors":"Yifan Zhang ,&nbsp;Yudi Yan ,&nbsp;Bingqiao Yang ,&nbsp;Rui Ma ,&nbsp;Yang Xu ,&nbsp;Huihua Luo ,&nbsp;Fang Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109768","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109768","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The removal of magnesium-contained minerals from phosphate ores poses significant challenges because of the resembling surface characteristics and inferior selectivity of conventional fatty acid and its derivatives. However, litter attention has been paid to develop highly selective collector to upgrade magnesium-contained phosphate ores. In this work, an attempt was made to explore a novel and efficient dolomite collector to remove dolomite from phosphate ores by means of reverse flotation, and multiple analytical techniques including Zeta potential, wettability, adsorption amount, microcalorimetry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to elucidate the collecting mechanism of Nonylphenol ether phosphate-10 (TXP-10) in reverse flotation. TXP-10 showed good selective collecting ability toward dolomite at pH of 5–10 without depressant. The addition of sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) prior to TXP-10 further improved the selectivity of TXP-10. Zeta potential and adsorption amount results indicated that TXP-10 preferentially adsorbed on dolomite in contrast to apatite. Microcalorimetry results indicated that the adsorption heat and rate between TXP-10 and dolomite was much bigger and faster compared with apatite. XPS and simulation results revealed that the −OPO₃ groups of TXP-10 chemically bonded with Ca and Mg sites on dolomite, while physically adsorbed on apatite due to scarce Ca distribution density and the steric hindrance effect. In addition, H₂SO₄ barely reacted with Ca and Mg sites on dolomite but strongly interacted Ca sites on apatite, further expanding the adsorption difference of TXP-10 on apatite and dolomite. The study might provide some new insights into the development of novel reverse collector for the efficient beneficiation of magnesium-contained phosphate ores.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109768"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145044177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of water recycling on spodumene losses during the mica flotation stage in lithium ore beneficiation","authors":"Antonio Di Feo ,&nbsp;Maziar E. Sauber ,&nbsp;Baian Almusned ,&nbsp;Brian Hart ,&nbsp;Tassos Grammatikopoulos","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109773","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109773","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the impact of recycled process water on spodumene losses during the mica flotation stage in lithium ore beneficiation. Flotation experiments, complemented by comprehensive mineralogical characterization and surface chemistry analyses, revealed significant spodumene losses to the mica rougher-scavenger concentrates under recycled water conditions. Surface chemistry analysis indicated enhanced adsorption of the collector (ARMAC-T) onto spodumene surfaces, driven by elevated levels of total organic carbon (TOC), total dissolved solids (TDS), and specific ionic species, particularly aluminum and iron. Mechanistic interpretations suggest that recycled water conditions promote undesired interactions between the collector and spodumene surfaces, negatively affecting mica flotation selectivity and consequently causing substantial lithium losses. Operational recommendations are proposed to reduce spodumene recovery, thereby enhancing overall lithium recovery.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109773"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145044178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Defect structures of mineral surface and its influence on flotation: a critical review","authors":"Chenyang Zhang ,&nbsp;Minsheng Fu ,&nbsp;Xin Rao ,&nbsp;Rong Wang ,&nbsp;Zhipeng Tang ,&nbsp;Sun Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109763","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109763","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mineral surfaces typically exhibit abundant defects arising from geological processes, crushing and grinding operations, pulp solution environments, and anthropogenic factors. Serving as reactive centers, these surface defects endow mineral surfaces with distinct physical and chemical properties that directly influence the interfacial behavior of minerals in flotation systems. This article emphasizes the pivotal role of surface defect structures in mineral flotation interfacial phenomena, systematically reviewing their effects on mineral surface structure, properties, and flotation performance, as well as the underlying regulatory mechanisms. Additionally, it outlines potential future research directions in surface defect chemistry relevant to mineral flotation, offering theoretical insights and novel perspectives for the precise control of flotation processes and the design of targeted reagent molecules.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109763"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145044174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Machine learning prediction of screening efficiency of new drum screen based on Harris Eagle algorithm optimization","authors":"Jinshuo Yang ,&nbsp;Mengyao Sun ,&nbsp;Wei Wang ,&nbsp;Jinpeng Qiao ,&nbsp;Yanze Wang ,&nbsp;Chenlong Duan","doi":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109772","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109772","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a core screening device in mineral processing and construction industries, the efficiency of a drum screen is governed by multiple nonlinearly coupled parameters, rendering traditional empirical models inadequate for high-precision prediction. This study presents an integrated machine learning framework combining the Discrete Element Method (DEM) with the Harris Hawks Optimization (HHO) algorithm to dynamically model the trommel sieving rate of a novel screen. Initially, a high-dimensional dataset comprising 810 samples—including particle size distribution, rotational speed, and drum inclination—was generated via DEM simulations. Subsequently, the HHO algorithm was employed to optimize the hyperparameters of a deep multilayer perceptron (MLP), achieving coefficients of determination (R²) of 0.9864 and 0.9760 on the training and test sets, respectively. To generalize the model across varying drum lengths, a variable-screen-length iterative prediction algorithm was developed; results demonstrate that for drum lengths exceeding 300 mm, the prediction error remains below 3 % and decays exponentially with increasing length. Global sensitivity analysis identified drum inclination (26.01 %) and fine-particle feed rate (24.73 %) as the predominant factors influencing screening efficiency. Moreover, interpretability analysis indicated that fine-particle feed rates (“d &lt; 3 mm”, “3 mm &lt; d &lt; 4.5 mm”) and drum inclination consistently serve as the primary drivers of model predictions, although the model exhibits context-dependence with notable variations across output regimes. The proposed approach offers robust theoretical and technical support for the intelligent design and parameter optimization of drum screening equipment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18594,"journal":{"name":"Minerals Engineering","volume":"234 ","pages":"Article 109772"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145026691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}