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Effectively adsorb Au(S2O3)23− using aminoguanidine as trapping group from thiosulfate solutions

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Abstract

Thiosulfate gold leaching is one of the most promising green cyanide-free gold extraction processes; however, the difficulty of recovering Au(I) from the leaching system hinders its further development. This study prepared aminoguanidine-functionalized microspheres (AGMs) via a one-step reaction involving nucleophilic substitution between aminoguanidine hydrochloride and chloromethylated polystyrene microspheres and used AGMs to adsorb Au(I) from thiosulfate solutions. Scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to analyze the structure and properties of AGMs. Experiments were designed to investigate the effects of pH, temperature, initial Au(I), and thiosulfate concentrations on the gold adsorption performance of AGMs. Results demonstrated that AGMs can efficiently adsorb Au(I) from thiosulfate solutions in a wide pH range. The adsorption process conforms to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model, with a maximum capacity of 22.03 kg/t. Acidic thiourea is an effective desorbent, and after four adsorption–desorption cycles, the adsorption rate of Au(I) by AGMs is 78.63%, which shows AGMs have good cyclic application potential. Based on the results of characterization, experiments, and density functional theory calculations, the mechanism for the adsorption of [Au(S2O3)2]3− on AGMs involves anion exchange. Importantly, AGMs exhibited satisfactory adsorption property for Au(I) in practical Cu2+–NH3(en)–S2O32− systems. This study provided experimental reference for the recovery of Au(I) from thiosulfate solution.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely express gratitude to Professor Guocai Tian of the Kunming University of Science and Technology for his help and support.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52264031) and Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Separation and Enrichment in China (KKPH201907003).

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Author notes

  1. Futing Zi, Shuliang Chen, Li Zhao, Xinrong Li, and Yue Lin contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650500, Yunnan, China

    Yihuai Yang, Xianzhi Hu, Futing Zi & Shuliang Chen

  2. Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650500, Yunnan, China

    Li Zhao, Xinrong Li & Yue Lin

Authors
  1. Yihuai Yang
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  2. Xianzhi Hu
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  3. Futing Zi
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  4. Shuliang Chen
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  5. Li Zhao
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  6. Xinrong Li
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  7. Yue Lin
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Contributions

Yihuai Yang: writing—original draft, validation, formal analysis, visualization, methodology, investigation, conceptualization, data curation. Xianzhi Hu and Futing Zi: methodology, writing—review editing, funding acquisition, resources, supervision, project administration. Shuliang Chen: resources, software, formal analysis. Li Zhao: software, visualization, formal analysis. Xinrong Li: resources, visualization, software. Yue Lin: software, formal analysis, validation.

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Correspondence to Xianzhi Hu.

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Highlights

1. Aminoguanidine functionalized microspheres prepared by one-step reaction, the preparation process is simple.

2. Functionalized microspheres can efficiently adsorb gold in thiosulfate solutions over a wide pH range.

3. Au(I) adsorption onto functionalized microspheres involves anion exchange between Cl− and [Au(S2O3)2]3−.

4. The prepared aminoguanidine functionalized microspheres have good potential for application in the adsorption–desorption cycle.

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Yang, Y., Hu, X., Zi, F. et al. Effectively adsorb Au(S2O3)23− using aminoguanidine as trapping group from thiosulfate solutions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 38298–38309 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33710-2

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