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Potassium Amyl Xanthate (PAX) as an alternative organic reactive for mercury removal from cyanidation process of amalgamation tailing

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Abstract

Mercury is the heavy metal that is most difficult to remove from cyanide solution. This situation brings with it many environmental, health and economic problems. This study aims to effectively utilize xanthate by presenting a new strategy for purifying mercury in the cyanidation process of amalgamation residues. In the study, the removal of mercury by precipitation using PAX from cyanidation leach solutions of a well-characterized amalgamation residue was investigated. The dosage of the precipitation reagent is the most important parameter in the removal of mercury. The mercury removal efficiency increases with the increase in the PAX/Hg ratio, and when the removal ratio is 60, the precipitation efficiency reaches a value of 66.7%. Applying coagulation and flocculation procedures after the precipitation process increases the mercury removal efficiency. It is seen that with this application, mercury can be removed with an efficiency of 95.6% at the same reagent rate. With this application, the particle sizes of the precipitates are enlarged and their filtration properties are improved. It has also been determined that the precipitates formed are in the form of HgS, a stable mercury compound. These results indicate that mercury can be effectively removed in its steady state. It was found that the concentration of Au and Cu did not change significantly, while the concentration of Ag decreased during the precipitation processes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to their gratitude to Karadeniz Technical University, Central Research Laboratory Directorate, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Central Research Laboratory Application and Research Center Directorate. This article has been produced from PhD thesis named “Removal of mercury from leach solutions with surface-active reagents.”

Funding

The financial support from Karadeniz Technical University and its Scientific Research Projects (BAP) unit provided for a PhD thesis project (BAP06) project number FDK-2020-8996 and the name of “Mercury Removal and Gold Recovery Methods from Amalgamating Wastes” is greatly appreciated. This article has been produced from PhD thesis named “Removal of mercury from leach solutions with surface-active reagents.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Şırnak University, Şırnak, Türkiye

    Sadiye Kantarcı

  2. Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Türkiye

    İbrahim Alp

  3. Ergold Innovation Eng. Srv. Ltd. Co., Trabzon Teknokent No: 19/B No: 3301, 61080, Trabzon, Türkiye

    Sadiye Kantarcı, İbrahim Alp & Abdou Azizi Youpoungam

  4. Department of Mineral Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Mineral Industries of The University of Nqaundere, Ngaoundere, Cameroon

    Abdou Azizi Youpoungam

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  1. Sadiye Kantarcı
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SK contributed to conceptualization, investigation, writing—review and editing, visualization and formal analysis. İA was involved in conceptualization, writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision, project administration and funding acquisition. AAY contributed to writing—review and editing, and visualization.

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Correspondence to Sadiye Kantarcı.

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Kantarcı, S., Alp, İ. & Youpoungam, A.A. Potassium Amyl Xanthate (PAX) as an alternative organic reactive for mercury removal from cyanidation process of amalgamation tailing. Environ Geochem Health 46, 28 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-023-01826-y

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