As an important secondary zinc resource, large-scale reserves of zinc oxide dust (ZOD) from a wide range of sources is of high comprehensive recycling value. Therefore, an experimental study on ultrasound-enhanced sulfuric acid leaching for zinc extraction from zinc oxide dust was carried out to investigate the effects of various factors such as ultrasonic power, reaction time, sulfuric acid concentration, and liquid–solid ratio on zinc leaching rate. The results show that the zinc leaching rate under ultrasound reached 91.16% at a temperature of 25 °C, ultrasonic power 500 W, sulfuric acid concentration 140 g/L, liquid–solid ratio 5:1, rotating speed 100 r/min, and leaching time 30 min. Compared with the conventional leaching method (leaching rate: 85.36%), the method under ultrasound increased the zinc leaching rate by 5.8%. In a kinetic analysis of the ultrasound-enhanced sulfuric acid leaching of zinc oxide dust, the initial apparent activation energy of the reaction was 6.90 kJ/mol, indicating that the ultrasound-enhanced leaching process was controlled by the mixed solid product layers. Furthermore, the leached residue was characterized by XRD and SEM-EDS, and the results show that, with ultrasonic waves, the encapsulated mineral particles were dissociated, and the dissolution of ZnO was enhanced. Mostly, the zinc in leached residue existed in the forms of ZnFe₂O₄, Zn₂SiO₄, and ZnS.

The discharge and accumulation of coal-based solid waste have caused great harm to the ecological environment recently. Coal-based solid wastes, such as coal gangue and fly ash, are rich in valuable components, such as rare earth elements (REY), silicon dioxide, alkali metal oxides, and transition metal oxides, which can be used to synthesize various functional Si-based porous materials. This article systematically summarizes the physicochemical characteristics and general processing methods of coal gangue and fly ash and reviews the progress in the application of porous materials prepared from these two solid wastes in the fields of energy and environmental protection, including the following: the adsorption treatment of heavy metal ions, ionic dyes, and organic pollutants in wastewater; the adsorption treatment of CO₂, SO₂, NO_x, and volatile organic compounds in waste gas; the energy regeneration of existing resources, such as waste plastics, biomass, H₂, and CO; and the preparation of Li–Si batteries. Combining the composition, structure, and action mechanism of various solid-waste-based porous materials, this article points out their strengths and weaknesses in the above applications. Furthermore, ideas for improvements in the applications, performance improvement methods, and energy consumption reduction processes of typical solid-waste-based porous materials are presented in this article. These works will deepen our understanding of the application of solid-waste-based porous materials in wastewater treatment, waste gas treatment, energy regeneration, and other aspects, as well as providing assistance for the integration of new technologies into solid-waste-based porous material preparation industries, and providing new ideas for reducing and reusing typical Chinese solid waste resources.

Given the shortage of zinc resource, the low utilisation efficiency of secondary zinc resource, and the crucial problem that the synchronous dissolution of zinc from different mineral phases, an activation pretreatment method merged with calcium activation and microwave heating approach was proposed to enhance the zinc leaching from complex encapsulated zinc-containing metallurgical residues (ZMR). Results indicated that under the optimal pretreatment conditions, including microwave activation temperature of 400 °C, CaO addition of 25% and activation time of 20 min, the zinc leaching rate reached 91.67%, which was 3.9% higher than that by conventional roasting pretreatment. Meanwhile, microwave heating presents excellent treatment effects, manifested by the zinc leaching rates, all exceeding that of conventional roasting under the same conditions, while the process temperature is decreased by 200 °C. In addition, XRD and SEM-EDS analysis denoted that microwave calcification pretreatment can effectively promote the transformation of the refractory zinc minerals like Zn₂SiO₄ and ZnFe₂O₄ into the easily leachable zinc oxides. The distinctive selective heating characteristics of microwave heating strengthened the dissociation of mineral inclusion, and the generated cracks increased the interfacial reaction area and further enhancing the leaching reaction of zinc from ZMR.

Zinc oxide dust (ZOD) is an industrial solid waste produced in the production process of wet smelting Zn, with large output and great pollution to the environment. The recycling of metallurgical solid waste such as zinc oxide dust is very important to achieve the sustainable development of the circular economy. An experimental study of zinc (Zn) leaching from zinc oxide dust using an ultrasound-enhanced ammonia–ammonium chloride system was performed. The effects of ultrasonic power, leaching time, total ammonia concentration, and other factors on the leaching rate of zinc from zinc oxide dust were investigated. The results revealed that the leaching rate of Zn reached up to 80.70% under the condition of ultrasound power of 1000 W, reaction time of 15 min, total ammonia concentration of 6 mol/L, [NH₃]:[NH₄⁺] of 1:1, L/S of 5:1, temperature of 45 °C, and stirring speed of 100 r/min. The conventional leaching was conducted under similar conditions, except that the time was controlled to 40 min and the zinc leaching rate was 71.15%. The leaching rate of Zn in the ultrasound condition was improved by 9.55% compared with that in the conventional leaching process. XRD, laser particle size, and SEM-EDS analyses were conducted to study the leaching residues of ZOD. The analysis results showed that in the ultrasound condition, the largest leaching rate of soluble ZnO phases was achieved after 15 min of leaching. Under the ammoniacal system, it was difficult to leach ZnFe₂O₄, Zn₂SiO₄, and ZnS phases, which partly accounted for the low zinc leaching rate. Additionally, through ultrasound-enhanced treatment, the ZnO particles encapsulated in ZOD particles were broken into smaller sizes and exposed to the leaching solution. Thus, the leaching rate of Zn was improved. The experimental results show that ultrasound can tremendously improve the effect of Zn extraction from ZOD, shorten reaction time, and help reduce energy consumption and environmental pollution, making it a promising application in the treatment of secondary Zn resources.

Aiming at the problems of the large storage, complex composition, low comprehensive utilization rate, and high environmental impact of coal gangue, this paper carried out experimental research on the preparation of iron oxide red from high-iron gangue by calcination activation, acid leaching, extraction, and the hydrothermal synthesis of coal gangue. The experimental results show that when the calcination temperature of coal gangue is 500 °C, the calcination time is 1.5 h, the optimal concentration of iron removal is 6 mol/L, the acid leaching temperature is 80 °C, the acid leaching time is 1 h, and the liquid——solid mass ratio is 4:1; the iron dissolution rate can reach 87.64%. A solvent extraction method (TBP-SK–hydrochloric acid system) was used to extract the leachate, and a solution with iron content up to 99.21% was obtained. By controlling the optimum hydrothermal conditions (pH = 9, temperature 170 °C, reaction time 5 h), high-purity iron oxide red product can be prepared; the yield is 80.07%. The red iron oxide was characterized by XRD, SEM-EDS, particle-size analysis, and ICP-OES. The results show that the red iron oxide peak has a cubic microstructure, an average particle size of 167.16 μm, and a purity of 99.16%. The quality of the prepared iron oxide red product meets the requirement of 98.5% of the “YHT4 Iron oxide Standard for ferrite”. It can be used as a raw material to produce high-performance soft magnetic ferrite. In summary, this experimental study on the preparation of iron oxide red from coal gangue is of great significance for the comprehensive utilization of coal gangue to realize the sustainable development of the environment and economy.

The aluminum hydroxide produced by the Bayer process contains a large amount of water which leads to the consumption of a large amount of heat for moisture removal in the calcination process, resulting in an increased energy consumption. The effects of temperature and microwave power on the dehydration ratio and the dry matter ratio of aluminum hydroxide were investigated. The characteristics of temperature variation during drying were discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser particle size, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and dielectric property analyses were made to characterize the dried materials. The analysis results showed that within the range of bench-scale experimental parameters, the dehydration ratio was higher and the proportion of dry matter was lower at a higher final temperature. Within the range of pilot-scale experimental parameters, the dehydration ratio increased with the increasing microwave power from 500 W to 1500 W. XRD spectra revealed that when the final temperature exceeded 220 °C, a part of the aluminum hydroxide underwent a low-temperature phase transition to boehmite. The SEM images and a particle size analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the morphologies of the powder obtained by microwave drying and conventional drying methods. The powder obtained by both processes had an average particle size of around 80 μm. The dielectric constant and the dielectric loss of the dried material decreased greatly.