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Metal recovery from industrial solid waste by ultrasonic-assisted hydrometallurgical leaching: a review

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Environmental Chemistry Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the context of the circular economy, there is a need for advanced methods to recover metals from industrial waste, yet classical hydrometallurgical techniques are limited. Here, we review ultrasonic-assisted hydrometallurgical leaching with focus on the use of acids, bases, oxidants, bacteria and electrolysis. Oxidative leaching is done with ferric ions, dioxygen, ozone and hydrogen peroxide. Upscaling is also detailed. Ultrasonication allows to reduce the dosage of leaching agents, to reduce reaction time, and to enhance leaching efficiency. Large-scale equipments are still limited by low cavitation efficiency, low throughput, high usage costs, and high energy consumption.

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The dataset generated and analyzed during this study could be obtained from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Abbreviations

R :

Radius of the bubble

U :

Surface vibration velocity

u :

Velocity at any distance r (> R) from the center of the bubble

ρ :

Density of the medium

t :

Time

C p :

Heat capacity of the solution

m :

Total mass of the solution

T :

Temperature

t :

Time

I :

Sound intensity

C :

Sound velocity

P a :

Sound pressure amplitude

P a, max :

Maximum sound pressure values of ultrasonic

f :

Resonant frequency

γ :

Coefficient of variability

p :

Ambient pressure

R r :

Bubble size

R max :

Maximum limit size of the bubble

γ :

Specific heat ratio of the gas inside the bubble

P :

Ambient liquid pressure

P h :

External (static fluid) pressure

ω a :

Angular frequency of ultrasonic

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Funding

This work is supported by Yunnan Major Scientific and Technological Projects (Grant No. 202202AG050011 and 202402AB080004), Top Innovative Talents for Graduate Students of KUST, and Analysis and Testing Fund of KUST (Grant No. 2021M20202102060).

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Contributions

Conceptualization done by Jianfeng Ran, Shaohua Yin, and Libo Zhang; methodology done by Jianfeng Ran, Shiwei Li, and Jiaping Zhao; software provided by Ying Chen; investigation done by Jianfeng Ran, Yun Li, and Xuxu wang; formal analysis done by Jianfeng Ran and Yun Li; writing—original draft done by Jianfeng Ran; data curation done by Yun Li; visualization done by Xuxu wang and Jiaping Zhao; resources given by Haisheng Duan, Shaohua Yin, and Jiaping Zhao; supervision provided by Shaohua Yin, Shiwei Li, Libo Zhang, Jiaping Zhao, and Shaohua Yin; validation done by Ying Chen; funding acquisition made by Shaohua Yin; writing—review and editing done by Shaohua Yin, Shiwei Li, Libo Zhang, and Jiaping Zhao.

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Correspondence to Shaohua Yin, Shiwei Li, Libo Zhang or Jiaping Zhao.

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Ran, J., Li, Y., Wang, X. et al. Metal recovery from industrial solid waste by ultrasonic-assisted hydrometallurgical leaching: a review. Environ Chem Lett (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-024-01743-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-024-01743-1

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