Extraction of Value-Added Minerals from Various Agricultural, Industrial and Domestic Wastes

Abstract

Environmental pollution is one of the major concerns throughout the world. The rise of industrialization has increased the generation of waste materials, causing environmental degradation and threat to the health of living beings. To overcome this problem and effectively handle waste materials, proper management skills are required. Waste as a whole is not only waste, but it also holds various valuable materials that can be used again. Such useful materials or elements need to be segregated and recovered using sustainable recovery methods. Agricultural waste, industrial waste, and household waste have the potential to generate different value-added products. More specifically, the industrial waste like fly ash, gypsum waste, and red mud can be used for the recovery of alumina, silica, and zeolites. While agricultural waste like rice husks, sugarcane bagasse, and coconut shells can be used for recovery of silica, calcium, and carbon materials. In addition, domestic waste like incense stick ash and eggshell waste that is rich in calcium can be used for the recovery of calcium-related products. In agricultural, industrial, and domestic sectors, several raw materials are used; therefore, it is of high economic interest to recover valuable minerals and to process them and convert them into merchandisable products. This will not only decrease environmental pollution, it will also provide an environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach for materials synthesis. These value-added materials can be used for medicine, cosmetics, electronics, catalysis, and environmental cleanup.