Leaching and Adsorption of Gold from Waste Printed Circuit Boards Using Iodine-Iodide Solution and Activated Carbon
Iodine-iodide leaching and activated carbon adsorption processes for recovery of gold (Au) from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) were discussed in this paper. A pressure oxidative acid leaching (POAC) was carried out in an autoclave using diluted sulfuric acid (1M H 2 SO 4 ) solution in order to remove high concentrations of some base metals especially copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) due to their negative effect on gold dissolution from WPCBs. The factors affecting the performance and efficiency of the iodine-iodide leaching process; such as iodine/iodide concentration, pulp density, leaching time and leaching temperature were optimized in order to maximize the gold dissolution efficiency from the WPCBs in the iodine-iodide solution. Results indicated that the vast majority (> 99%) of gold was dissolved in the solution from the WPCBs under the optimized leaching conditions. Adsorption tests were conducted on leach liquor solutions resulting from the iodine-iodide leaching using activated carbon. Nearly 98% of gold was adsorbed from the liquor solution onto the carbon under the condition optimized in this study. The results obtained revealed that gold can be successfully recovered from this secondary resources, where the percent recovery amounts to nearly 97% for gold.
Gold and palladium oxidation/complexation in water by a thioamide–iodine leaching system
This paper concerns the oxidative dissolution ability of a thioamide/iodine leaching system in water towards gold, palladium and silver metals in powder in view of a potential application in the recovery process of these metals from electrical and electronic waste equipment (E-waste). The leaching mixture composed of equimolar amounts of thioamide 3-methyl-benzothiazole-2-thione and I2 in water can oxidize/complex gold and palladium metals in powder in order to form the complexes [AuI(mbtt)2]I3 and [PdII(mbtt)3I]I3. Considering the mild conditions under which the processes were performed ([I2] = 1.14 × 10−3 M, T = 20 °C, pH = 5.0, leaching time = 24 h), the obtained oxidation yield of Au0 and Pd0 are to be considered satisfactory with values of 65% and 69%, respectively. No oxidation was observed for the silver powder. The oxidising/complexing properties of the leaching mixture mbtt + I2 were interpreted considering the formation of the mbtt–I2 adduct that features, as a consequence of the S-donor to I2 interaction, a charge separation between the bridging and terminal iodine atoms in the fragment S–Ib–It. The feasibility of recovering gold from the complex [AuI(mbtt)2]I3 was verified by performing a cementation with magnesium powder.
Exopolysaccharide biosynthesis and related enzyme activities of the medicinal fungus, Ganoderma lucidum, grown on lactose in a bioreactor
Exopolysaccharide (EPS) production and biosynthesis were studied in Ganoderma lucidum, a fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine, grown with lactose in a bioreactor. β-Galactosidase activity, which implies the existence of a lactose permease system, was induced by lactose. Lactose feeding also increased α-phosphoglucomutase activity and EPS accumulation but decreased phosphoglucose isomerase activity and lactate concentration in the culture broth. A maximum cell density of 22 g l−1 and EPS at 1.25 g l−1 were obtained in fed-batch bioreactor culture.