Water resources are the basis for human survival and development. However, human beings face severe challenges of water pollution and freshwater shortage. With the critical advantages of low energy consumption, high efficiency, low cost, green and pollution-free, and renewable electrodes, capacitive deionization (CDI) has become an up-and-coming water treatment technology. After decades of development, the application of CDI has expanded from seawater desalination to many fields. However, the existing literature still needs a comprehensive overview of the multi-functional application of CDI technology in water treatment. Therefore, our work critically reviewed the latest research progress of CDI in water treatment to meet the technical requirements of various application fields. This paper first summarizes the various applications of CDI in water treatment, focusing on CDI’s representative research results in heavy metal removal, organic contaminants removal, water softening, phosphate and nitrate removal, and water disinfection. In addition, we also discussed the latest research progress of energy recovery and energy consumption assessment for the CDI process. Finally, this paper discusses the challenges and future opportunities facing CDI technology.

A large number of unexploited low-grade vanadium-titanium magnetite deposits have been found in the Chao-yang area of China in recent years. The reserves are estimated at more than 20 billion tons. A mineralogical study of raw sample indicated that it was a typical low-grade vanadium-titanium magnetite ore with weathering. Most of vanadium-titanium magnetite was replaced by martite and sphene, which would affect the recovery of valuable elements. The intergrowth relationship between vanadium-titanium magnetite and sphene was very complex, and the grain size of sphene was generally fine, and could not be completely liberated even by fine grinding, whereas the content of vanadium and titanium in sphene was higher than that in vanadium-titanium magnetite, resulting in vanadium-titanium magnetite concentrates with characteristics of high vanadium and titanium content. A magnetic separation process was investigated for the pre-concentration of low-grade vanadium-titanium magnetite ore. The results showed that 73.52% of feed ore were directly discarded for reducing the processing capacity of follow-up processing. A vanadium-titanium magnetite concentrate with 1.14% V₂O₅, 22.22% TiO₂, 42.51% Fe and a rough concentrate of ilmenite with 16.05% TiO₂, 20.77% Fe were obtained from low-grade vanadium-titanium magnetite ore which contains 0.050% V₂O₅, 1.67% TiO₂ and 8.53% Fe.

The cement industry has for some time been seeking alternative raw material for the Portland cement clinker production. The aim of this research was to investigate the possibility of utilizing iron ore tailings (IOT) to replace clay as alumina-silicate raw material for the production of Portland cement clinker. For this purpose, two kinds of clinkers were prepared: one was prepared by IOT; the other was prepared by clay as a reference. The reactivity and burnability of raw meal, mineralogical composition and physical properties of clinker, and hydration characteristic of cement were studied by burnability analysis, differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and hydration analysis. The results showed that the raw meal containing IOT had higher reactivity and burnability than the raw meal containing clay, and the use of IOT did not affect the formation of characteristic mineralogical phases of Portland cement clinker. Furthermore, the physical and mechanical performance of two cement clinkers were similar. In addition, the use of IOT was found to improve the grindability of clinker and lower the hydration heat of Portland cement. These findings suggest that IOT can replace the clay as alumina-silicate raw material for the preparation of Portland cement clinker.

In this paper, potassium salt roasting additives were applied to extract vanadium from vanadium–titanium magnetite concentrate. Meanwhile, the mechanisms of potassium salt roasting and acid leaching kinetics were investigated. The results indicate that potassium salt roasting additives are more efficient than sodium and calcium salt and that K₂SO₄ works best. Under certain conditions (a dosage of K₂SO₄ of 4 wt %, a roasting temperature of 900 °C, a roasting time of 1 h, a leaching temperature of 95 °C, a sulfuric acid concentration of 10% (v/v), and a leaching time of 1.5 h with a liquid to solid ratio of 3 mL/g) the vanadium leaching efficiency reached 71.37%, an increase of 30.20% compared to that of blank roasting. Additionally, XRD and related SEM-EDS analyses indicated that K₂SO₄ fully destroyed the structure of vanadium-bearing minerals such as magnetite, and promoted the generation of soluble KVO₃ to inhibit the formation of insoluble Ca(VO₃)₂ in the roasting process. Furthermore, it promoted the dissolution of sphene and the release of its vanadium in the leaching process, which increased the vanadium leaching efficiency significantly. Meanwhile, leaching kinetics analyses showed that the leaching process was controlled by internal diffusion; the apparent activation energy decreased from 37.43 kJ/mol with blank roasting to 26.31 kJ/mol with potassium salt roasting. The reaction order, with regards to the sulfuric acid concentration, decreased from 0.6588 to 0.5799. Therefore, potassium salt roasting could improve mineral activity, accelerating the leaching process and reducing the dependence on high temperature and high acidity.