Management and valorization of phosphate beneficiation slime: a critical review

Abstract

The valorization of phosphate mine waste (PMW) in different fields has recently become attractive to many researchers. This review paper examines the potential use of PMW as a raw material in different applications toward sustainable management strategies. Dewatering, recovery of phosphate and heavy metals, building materials and ceramics applications have been captured in this paper. Based on the origin of deposit and the treatment during ore beneficiation, the PMW shows different mineral compositions and various percentage of chemical elements which make it suitable for most of the studied applications. The objective of this paper is to show the potential of the phosphate mine waste valorization and to identify the knowledge gap.