Progress in the high-value utilization of graphite tailings and environmental benefit assessment: current status, challenges, and prospects

Aiming at green mining and dual-carbon goals, based on existing research and engineering reports, the physical characteristics of graphite tailings, their traditional utilization, and high-value utilization directions are systematically reviewed. It establishes an assessment framework comprising characteristics, technology, performance, benefits, and risks, and conducts a cross-pathway review incorporating life cycle and carbon footprint perspectives. The results indicate that building materials and land engineering applications have large-scale consumption capacity but limited value-added benefits and emission reduction per unit. Functional materials and energy materials show higher potential, though development remains largely at the laboratory and pilot-scale verification stage. Heavy metal leaching and residual reagent migration under acidic conditions are identified as key environmental risks, with insufficient long-term in-situ evidence available. Industrialization advancement is constrained by factors such as standard alignment and a scarcity of demonstration projects. Under unified fields in tables and figures, comparable discussions are conducted, applicable boundaries and common challenges are summarized, process modifications and performance impacts of representative pathways are categorized and compared, and phased implementation strategies and key application scenarios are proposed in the conclusion. The contribution lies in proposing and applying a five-dimensional assessment framework, integrating scattered evidence to form a structured understanding applicable to engineering screening and policy analysis.