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The increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has intensified the need for efficient lithium (Li) recovery from secondary sources. This study focuses on anti-solvent crystallization for the recovery of high-purity lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LiOH·H2O) from a Li-rich leachate, derived from the flue dust of a pilot-scale pyrometallurgical process for LIB material recycling. To optimize product yield and purity, a series of experiments were performed, focusing on the influence of parameters such as solvent type, organic-to-aqueous (O/A) volumetric ratio, crystallization time, stirring rate, and anti-solvent addition rate. Acetone was identified as the most effective anti-solvent, producing rectangular cuboid crystals with approximately 90% Li recovery and around 95% purity, under optimized conditions (O/A = 4, 3 h, 150 rpm, and solvent flow rate of 5 mL/min). The flow rate influenced crystal morphology and impurity entrapment, with 5 mL/min favoring nucleation-dominated crystallization regime, producing ~20 μm of well-dispersed crystals with reduced impurity incorporation. SEM-EDS, surface washing, and gradual dissolution of obtained LiOH·H2O crystals revealed that the impurities sodium (Na), potassium (K), aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca) and chromium (Cr) were crystallized as conglomerates. It was found that Na, K, Al, and Ca primarily crystallized as highly soluble conglomerates, while Cr was crystallized as a lowly soluble conglomerate impurity. In contrast Zn was distributed throughout the crystal bulk, suggesting either the entrapment of soluble zincate species within the growing crystals or the formation of mixed Li-Zn phase. Therefore, to achieve battery-grade purity, further purification measures are necessary.

This study evaluates four physicochemical pretreatments—ultra-fine grinding, roasting, alkaline pressure oxidation (POX), and oxidative ammoniacal pre-leaching—for improving gold extraction from a refractory sulfide concentrate produced trough flotation. The gold extraction by direct cyanidation is only ~48.6%, mainly due to the encapsulation of gold by associated minerals. Ultra-fine grinding increased the BET surface area eight-fold but depressed gold dissolution from 74% to 18% due to accelerated thiosulfate decomposition and copper (I) passivation in the presence of a bigger surface area. Oxidative roasting at 750 °C converted pyrite–pyrrhotite to hematite without liberating additional gold, indicating limited benefit from thermal treatment. POX was conducted at 190 °C and 10 bar O2 dissolved 33% of the solids and yielded only 26% of gold in a thiosulfate leaching step with 50% of the thiosulfate consumption. In contrast, a two-step oxidative ammoniacal conditioning (0.4 M NH3 + 10 mM Cu2+ for 42 h) followed by thiosulfate leaching boosted gold extraction from 71% to 85% while cutting thiosulfate consumption from 48.4 to 29.0 kg t−1. The results demonstrate that among the pretreatments investigated, oxidative ammoniacal pre-leaching provides the most effective and environmentally benign route to unlock encapsulated gold and enhance reagent efficiency for thiosulfate processing of refractory gold ore.

Smooth integration of intermittent energy sources, such as solar and wind power, into the electrical grid induces new operating conditions of the hydraulic turbine by increasing the off-design operations, start/stops, and load variations. Therefore, hydraulic turbines are subject to unstable flow conditions and unfavorable load fluctuations. Predicting load fluctuations on the runner using indirect measurements can allow for optimized operations of the turbine units, increase turbine refurbishment time intervals, and avoid structural failures in extreme cases. This paper investigates an experimental methodology to assess and predict the flow condition and load fluctuations on a Kaplan turbine runner at several steady-state operations by performing measurements on the shaft in the rotating and stationary frame of references. This unit is instrumented with several transducers such as miniature pressure transducers, strain gages, and proximity probes. The results show that for any propeller curve of a Kaplan turbine, the guide vane opening corresponding to the minimum pressure and strain fluctuations on the runner blade can be obtained by axial, torsion, and bending measurements on the shaft. Torsion measurements on the shaft could support index-testing in Kaplan turbines particularly for updating the cam-curve during the unit operation. Furthermore, a signature of every phenomenon observed on the runner blade signals, e.g., runner frequency, rotating vortex rope components, and rotor-stator interaction, is found in the data obtained from the shaft.

Utilizing iron silicate copper slag as supplementary cementitious material (SCM) is a means to improve resource efficiency and lower the carbon dioxide emissions from cement production. Despite multiple studies on the performance of these slags in SCM applications, the variations in cooling procedure, grinding, and methods for evaluating reactivity limit the ability to assess the influence of chemical composition on reactivity from the literature data. In this study, a methodology was developed to synthesize iron silicate slags, which were then evaluated for their inherent reactivity using the R3 calorimeter-based experiments. The results demonstrated that laboratory-scale granulation produced the same reactivity as industrially granulated slag. Furthermore, a synthesized triplicate sample showed high repeatability. Based on these two aspects, this method can be used to systematically study the influence of chemical composition on the inherent reactivity of iron silicate slags while producing results that are directly translatable to industrial slags.

The presence of halogens has an adverse effect on the zinc extraction process through electrowinning, the last phase of the RLE (Roasting, Leaching and Electrowinning) zinc extraction route. Fluoride (F−) may be present as calcium fluoride (CaF2) and this is, for example, the case in double leached Waelz oxide (DLWO). Efficient removal of F− from primary and secondary raw materials for zinc extraction results in a simplified process and increases flexibility in the selection of raw materials. Understanding of the solubility behavior of pure CaF2 can give valuable information on treatment for maximized halogen removal. Dissolution of CaF2 was studied with the addition of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3). Dissolution studies were combined with thermodynamic calculations to understand the solubility behavior of CaF2 under different conditions. Results from the experiments and the thermodynamic calculations show that Na2CO3 and NaHCO3 have similar behavior if the pH is controlled at the same value. The available carbonate (CO32−) ion in the system limits the concentration of calcium (Ca2+) ion by precipitation of CaCO3, which enhances the dissolution of CaF2. At higher temperatures and pH, calcite, vaterite, and aragonite were formed and co-precipitation of CaF2 along with calcium carbonate (CaCO3) was observed. At lower temperatures and lower pH levels, only calcite and vaterite were formed and a coating by CaCO3 on CaF2 was found to hinder complete dissolution reaction. The results of this study indicate that the temperature along with the reagents used for the dissolution tests have a significant impact on the CaCO3 polymorph mixture (calcite, vaterite and aragonite) formation.

The transition to hydrogen-based reduction processes within the iron and steelmaking industry will generate new types of slag compositions that require valorization routes. Using slags as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) addresses the carbon dioxide emissions of the cement industry since the SCM requires neither calcination nor clinkering. Conventionally, ironmaking slags from the blast furnace (BF) are recycled as SCMs, i.e., ground granulated BF slag (GGBS). Ideally, future slags from electric arc furnaces (EAFs) operating on hydrogen-based direct reduced iron should be valorized analogously. Since the hydrogen-based process route is not yet realized in an industrial scale, the literature lacks data to support this valorization route, and additionally, literature on scrap-based EAF slags is scarce. Therefore, the present study aimed to offer insights into the utilization of ore-based EAF slags as SCMs based on an industrial slag sample from an EAF operating on hot briquetted iron. The slag was remelted, modified, and water-granulated in laboratory scale, and its performance as an SCM was compared to water-granulated ladle slag and two commercial GGBS. The results showed promising reactivities measured using the R 3 isothermal calorimeter-based testing protocol. Based on the comparison to GGBS, the study indicated that generating reactive and appropriate SCMs from EAF slags will partly be a challenge in balancing the crystallization of the MeO-type solid solution rich in magnesia and addressing the iron oxide content in the amorphous phase. Graphical Abstract

Mechanical activation of granulated copper slag (GCS) is carried out in the present study for the purposes of enhancing pozzolanic activity for the GCS. A vibration mill mills the GCS for 1, 2, and 3 h to produce samples with specific surface area of 0.67, 1.03 and 1.37 m2/g, respectively. The samples are used to replace 30% cement (PC) to get 3 PC-GCS binders. The hydration heat and compressive strength are measured for the binders and derivative thermogravimetric /thermogravimetric analysis (DTG/TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to characterize the paste samples. It is shown that cumulative heat and compressive strength at different ages of hydration and curing, respectively, are higher for the binders blending the GCS milled for a longer time. The compressive strength after 90 d of curing for the binder with the longest milling time reaches 35.7 MPa, which is higher than the strength of other binders and close to the strength value of 39.3 MPa obtained by the PC pastes. The percentage of fixed lime by the binder pastes at 28 days is correlated with the degree of pozzolanic reaction and strength development. The percentage is higher for the binder blending the GCS with longer milling time and higher specific surface area. The pastes with binders blending the GCS of specific surface area of 0.67 and 1.37 m2/g fix lime of 15.20 and 21.15%, respectively. These results together with results from X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, and SEM investigations demonstrate that the mechanical activation via vibratory milling is an effective method to enhance the pozzolanic activity and the extent for cement substitution by the GCS as a suitable supplementary cementitious material (SCM).

Super-hot acid leach residue is generated during zinc production in the roasting–leaching–electrowinning route, where both primary and secondary resources are used as feed material. This residue may contain valuable metals, such as lead, zinc, and iron, as well as precious metals, such as gold and silver. Four materials, namely super-hot acid leach residue, a residue formed when super-hot acid leach residue is selectively leached for lead with triethylenetetramine, as well as flotation concentrate, and flotation tailings formed in a selective silver flotation process with super-hot acid leach residue as the feed material were characterized to obtain a deeper understanding of possible further metal extraction. These four materials were characterized for chemical composition, mineralogy, and mineral distribution via chemical analyses, X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The scanning electron microscope images showed that the materials have large variations in particle size distribution and composition. The results showed that the main lead phase in super-hot acid leach residue is lead sulfate, whereas it is mostly converted to lead sulfide during the selective lead leaching of the super-hot acid leach residue. The remaining lead sulfate is found in a solid solution with barium sulfate. Extracting lead from super-hot acid leach residue via triethylenetetramine leaching resulted in increased concentrations of gold and silver by 41% and 42%, respectively. The identified silver phases in super-hot acid leach residue may correspond to silver sulfide, silver chloride, and elementary silver, where silver sulfide was the most commonly occurring silver phase. After leaching this selectively for lead with triethylenetetramine, similar silver phases were identified, but silver sulfide and silver chloride occurred to a similar extent. Additionally, silver copper sulfide was detected. The presence of different silver phases might pose a challenge to reaching high silver recovery during leaching as the optimum leaching conditions differ somewhat. Furthermore, elemental sulfur, with a tendency to coat gold and silver particle surfaces, which is indicated to be present in all materials except the silver flotation tailings, may hinder metal extraction.

Double leached Waelz oxide (DLWO), with 76% zinc, is a secondary zinc containing raw materials obtained by the treatment of electric arc furnace dust. The content of fluoride in DLWO is still too high for direct leaching, as fluoride has a detrimental effect on electrowinning for zinc production. Knowledge of the characteristics of DLWO, and especially on how a fluoride mineral might exist, can contribute to further improvement of the selective leaching for the removal of fluoride. In this study, DLWO was characterized using analytical techniques, such as inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), 19F liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (19F LS NMR), X-ray powder diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and 19F solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (19F SS NMR). This study showed that DLWO mainly consisted of zincite (ZnO), cerussite (PbCO3) and a spinel containing zinc, iron and manganese. The fluoride mineral identified was calcium fluoride (CaF2). In SEM analysis, fluorine was found in larger grains together with calcium and oxygen, which was possibly calcium carbonate.

Tick-borne pathogens (TBPs), especially , cause disease in grazing livestock. Tick prophylaxis is, therefore, a routine practice in sheep flocks in Sweden, especially in central, southern, and coastal areas of the country where ixodid ticks ( and ) are present. In the present study, the status of infection by and other TBPs in lambs treated with tick prophylaxis has been assessed serologically and with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Blood samples (  = 78) from lambs (  = 20) subjected to regular tick prophylactic treatment (flumethrin, Bayticol ) at two sites in different regions in Sweden (Östergötland, Gotland) were collected on four occasions from May until July 2013. The severity of clinical signs in infected animals is known to differ between these two regions. In total, 20% of blood samples were PCR-positive for . Serological analyses showed that 33% of all collected samples were positive for , while 2.5% were positive for s.l. and 13% for tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). Percentages of lambs positive were 75 and 45% for antibodies and DNA, respectively, while 10 and 45% were serologically positive for s.l. and TBEV, respectively. Sequencing of partial 16S rRNA genes from PCR positive samples revealed presence of in all animals in Östergötland, while sequences consistent with as well as and were found on the island of Gotland. This is the first report of the occurrence of the latter two species in Sweden.