• Naiyang, Ma
• Tesfaye, Fiseha
• Zhang, Mingming

Abstract

Today, a reliable supply of certain metals including the minor metals that are used in small quantities for a variety of economically significant applications (e.g., smart phones, laptops, solar cells, electric vehicles, etc.) and national defense applications are at risk. To address this challenge of metals supply risk, the European Commission in 2017 and the United States in 2018 have created 27 and 35 lists of critical raw materials (CRMs), respectively. Among the CRMs lists, metals such as Mn, V, and Cr are also critical to China. For example, the demand for vanadium in China is projected to double from 2010 to 2025 because of its continued use in steelmaking (including new steel-hardening requirements) and its potential for application in a new battery technology used for large-scale renewable energy storage. In general, the CRMs lists, which are subject to review and update from time to time, reflect raw materials of high economic importance and of high supply risk. In order to be able to insure the continuity of the CRMs supply, attention has turned from primary sources, which are being depleted and linked to geopolitical issues, to alternative sources. Emphasis should also be placed on advancing the prevailing primary and secondary resources processing technologies to reduce environmental foot-prints and to maximize critical metals production with high-energy efficiency. In the present issue of JOM, eleven articles are presented which mainly cover hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical aspects of processing secondary resources for the optimal recovery of the critical metals.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• steel
• vanadium