Evaluation of gold adsorption on activated carbon from real cyanide and thiourea leachate solutions
Hugo Romero,
Claudio Suarez,
Nelson Salazar,
Cristhian Zambrano,
Byron Lapo
Affiliations
Hugo Romero
Technical University of Machala, Chemical Engineering School, Electroanalytical Applications and Bioenergy Research Group, Machala, Postcode 070102, Ecuador
Claudio Suarez
Technical University of Machala, Chemical Engineering School, BIOeng Group, Machala, Postcode 070102, Ecuador; Authievre Chemical Research Consulting Inc, Queen Street East, Toronto, G8-3017, Canada
Nelson Salazar
Technical University of Machala, Chemical Engineering School, BIOeng Group, Machala, Postcode 070102, Ecuador
Cristhian Zambrano
Technical University of Machala, Chemical Engineering School, Electroanalytical Applications and Bioenergy Research Group, Machala, Postcode 070102, Ecuador
Byron Lapo
Technical University of Machala, Chemical Engineering School, BIOeng Group, Machala, Postcode 070102, Ecuador; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Department of Chemical Engineering, ETSEIB, Diagonal 647, 08028, Barcelona, Spain; Corresponding author. Technical University of Machala, Chemical Engineering School, BioEng Research Group, Machala, Postcode 070102, Ecuador.
The recovery of gold by adsorption using activated carbon from sodium cyanide and thiourea leached solutions are reported in this study. The leached solutions were obtained under real operating conditions from the beneficiation plant “Paz Borja”, Machala-Ecuador. Calgon Carbon DG-11 6X12 type, widely used in the local metallurgical industry was used as adsorbent material. The operational parameters varied during the adsorption process experiments included the concentration of leaching agent, agitation speed, dose of activated carbon and initial concentration of gold. The control parameters included density, percentage of solid, pH, temperature, and solution potential. The obtained results were adjusted to mass transfer model by diffusion through the interface and the Freundlich model for the equilibrium isotherms. The analysis of the results indicates a higher adsorption rate of the gold di-cyanide complex on activated carbon compared to gold-thiourea complexes.
