RT Journal Article
T1 Exploration of fertilizer industry wastes as potential source of critical raw materials.
A1 Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
A1 Pérez López, Rafael
A1 Macías Suárez, Francisco
A1 Chapron, Simon
A1 Nieto Liñán, José Miguel
A1 Pellet Rostaing, Stephane
AB This paper explores the possibility of using wastes (i.e. solid phosphogypsum (PG), process waters and edge outflows) generated by a fertilizer plant in SW Spain as a source of elements of economic interest, estimating the available metal reserves and discussing the technological and economic pros and cons of this potential source of raw materials. In general, elements of economic interest are found in these wastes below of the grades commonly reported in conventional deposits. However, the huge tonnage of wastes stockpiled constitute a significant secondary source of elements.  Around 30400 t of B, 28000 t of rare earth elements (REE), 1800 t of U, 1400 t of Cr, 1300 t of V and lesser amounts of other elements of economic interest (e.g. Cu, Ni, Sc and Ga) are enclosed in the solid PG while lower amounts are found in process waters (e.g. 1360 t of Zn, 760 t of V, 630 t of U and Cr, 225 t of Cu, 160 t of Ni, 190 t of REE). Considering the market metal prices, the reserves contained in the Huelva PG stack have a potential value of around 8937 million USD, which mainly correspond to PG (97% of total value). The recovery of these elements is technically feasible, although intense research in refining processes is needed in order to increase the purity of the final product. The results of this study could be of interest in other PG stacks worldwide to provide more sustainable and cost-effective management of these wastes.
PB Elsevier
SN 0959-6526
YR 2017
FD 2017-02-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22921
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22921
LA eng
NO Cánovas, C. R., Pérez-López, R., Macías, F., Chapron, S., Nieto, J. M., & Pellet-Rostaing, S. (2017). Exploration of fertilizer industry wastes as potential source of critical raw materials. In Journal of Cleaner Production (Vol. 143, pp. 497–505). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.083
NO This work was supported by the Regional Government of Andalusia through the research project FOREVER (P12-RNM-2260) and the Spanish Ministry of Economic and Competitiveness through the research project SCYRE (CGL2016-78783-C2-1-R). C.R. Cánovas was funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Program, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Junta de Andalucia by the program TalentHub (COFUND - Grant Agreement 291780). We would also like to thank Dr. Jiri Jaromir Klemeŝ (Executive Editor) and the anonymous reviewers for the support and comments that significantly improved the quality of the original paper. This work is a contribution to the CEIMAR Publication Series.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 13 jul 2026