Innovation of Resource Circulation Techniques

The field of resource circulation has become a critical area in environmental chemical engineering, driven by the need to achieve sustainable waste management, carbon neutrality, and a circular economy. Industrial and municipal wastes—including electronic scrap, spent batteries, bottom ash, and incineration residues—contain valuable metals, carbon, and rare resources, yet their recovery and treatment pose major scientific and technical challenges. While conventional methods for waste disposal and resource recovery are often inefficient or environmentally costly, rapid progress in chemical treatment, separation, and catalytic technologies is opening new opportunities for transforming waste into valuable materials. Recent studies have highlighted promising advances in catalytic processes, chemical extraction, mineral carbonation, and the creation of functional materials from waste streams. However, there remains a need to integrate these innovations and clarify how new approaches can be safely and efficiently applied at scale.This Research Topic aims to gather cutting-edge research in chemical treatments and separation strategies for resource circulation. We welcome work on fundamental mechanisms, new process designs, and the development of waste-derived catalysts, sorbents, and nanomaterials. Articles are encouraged that address key challenges in CO₂ mineralization, hydrometallurgical and electrochemical recovery, and advanced material synthesis. Critical reviews and original research that bridge laboratory discoveries with pilot or practical applications are highly valued. By collecting studies from across academia and industry, this collection seeks to advance technical solutions for a sustainable circular economy and carbon-negative future.The scope of this Research Topic is focused on the chemical, catalytic, and separation processes enabling the recovery of resources and treatment of waste for environmental benefit. The boundaries of the collection exclude largely policy, economic, or exclusively engineering perspectives in favor of chemistry-driven insights. We welcome the following themes, among others:• Innovative chemical and catalytic treatments for solid and hazardous wastes• Application of hydrometallurgical, electrochemical, and hybrid processes for critical element recovery• Development and application of waste-derived sorbents, nanomaterials, and catalysts• Chemical strategies for CO₂ capture, mineralization, and utilization using industrial waste• Integration of separation technologies with chemical remediation and resource circulation• Mechanistic studies and process intensification for sustainable material synthesis and waste valorizationAuthors may submit original research, reviews, perspectives, and mini-reviews addressing any area within these themes. Topic editors: Cheng-Han Lee, HsingJung Ho Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80064/innovation-of-resource-circulation-techniques