The traditional production process of the molybdenum disulfide industry has long relied on acid leaching to remove impurities, a process that generates large quantities of acidic wastewater and exhaust gases, facing increasingly stringent environmental compliance pressures. With the deepening implementation of China's "14th Five-Year Plan" for industrial green development and the release of the 2025 revised "Green Factory Evaluation General Rules" (GB/T 36132-2025), MoS2 producers are accelerating their transition to environmental production routes such as physical separation and non-acid-leaching processes, with sustainable development becoming a core industry topic.

Environmental Burden of Acid Leaching

Traditional acid leaching uses hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid to leach molybdenum concentrate, separating copper, iron, and other metal impurities. According to industry data, producing 1 ton of acid-leached MoS2 generates an average of 3-5 tons of acidic wastewater containing heavy metal ions and residual acid, requiring multi-stage neutralization and precipitation to meet discharge standards. Additionally, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide emissions from the acid leaching process require dedicated exhaust gas absorption systems, significantly increasing production costs and energy consumption.

In February 2025, China's Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs included molybdenum-related items in the export control list, further compelling domestic producers to optimize processes and enhance product value. Under this policy context, reducing pollutant emissions and improving resource utilization have become necessary conditions for maintaining competitiveness.

Environmental Advantages of Physical Separation

Physical separation using hydrocyclone classification leverages differences in density, surface properties, and particle size between molybdenum minerals and gangue minerals to achieve separation without chemical acids. This process reduces wastewater discharge by approximately 80% compared to acid leaching, and the wastewater is primarily neutral, significantly reducing treatment difficulty. Flotation tailings water can be recycled after sedimentation and filtration, achieving a water recycling rate of over 85%.

In terms of product quality, physically separated MoS2 achieves purity above 99%, with MoS2 content stable in the 97%-98% range, free of acid radical residues, and superior copper corrosion performance compared to acid-leached products. These characteristics provide competitive advantages in applications requiring high purity and low corrosivity, such as premium lubricating greases, plastic modification, and powder metallurgy.

Green Manufacturing Policy Drivers

The 2025 revised "Green Factory Evaluation General Rules" establishes five evaluation indicator systems: energy decarbonization, resource efficiency, production cleanliness, product greenness, and land intensification. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has set targets for significantly increasing the market share of advanced environmental technology equipment by 2027 and achieving self-controllable supply chains for environmental technology equipment by 2030. These policy objectives directly influence the process selection and investment direction of the MoS2 industry.

Currently, domestic MoS2 enterprises have obtained ISO 14001 environmental management system certification, establishing full-process environmental control systems from raw material procurement to finished product delivery. Some enterprises have introduced online monitoring systems for real-time surveillance of wastewater pH, suspended solids concentration, and exhaust emission indicators. The promotion of RoHS-certified products has also driven producers to focus more on hazardous substance control, advancing the application of acid-free processes.

Circular Economy and Resource Utilization

Sustainable development in the MoS2 industry extends beyond process improvement to comprehensive resource utilization. Tailings generated during molybdenum concentrate flotation can be re-processed to recover valuable components, with remaining tailings used for building materials. Ammonium molybdate recovered from production wastewater can be returned to the process flow, achieving internal recycling of molybdenum resources.

Furthermore, as a strategic mineral with strong by-product characteristics, global molybdenum reserves total approximately 15 million tons of metal content, with limited supply elasticity. Improving molybdenum resource utilization is not only an environmental requirement but also a strategic necessity for resource security. The physical separation process achieves a molybdenum recovery rate of over 90%, offering better resource efficiency than acid leaching, and this advantage is increasingly valuable economically amid heightened molybdenum price volatility.

Future Trends

Looking ahead, sustainable development in the MoS2 industry will exhibit three trends: first, the penetration rate of non-acid-leaching processes will continue to rise, gradually replacing traditional acid-leaching capacity; second, intelligent production management systems will further reduce energy consumption and emissions through data-driven process optimization; third, full-lifecycle carbon footprint management will implement carbon accounting and reduction measures at every stage from ore mining to product delivery. These trends collectively drive the MoS2 industry toward cleaner, more efficient, and more sustainable development.

**Tags:** environmental production process, 环保生产工艺, MoS2 sustainable development, 二硫化钼可持续发展, non-acid leaching, green manufacturing, GB/T 36132-2025, physical separation, acidic wastewater reduction, 绿色制造