4.

2 Activated carbon adsorption

Activated carbon/charcoal is a generic name of highly adsorbent carbon which is prepared by
heating carbonaceous (wood, coals, oil, nutshells and coconut shells) material in the absence of
air (pyrolysis). The resulting solid product (activated carbon) is highly adsorbent because of the
following:

very large specific surface area (up to 1200m2/g) about a quarter of a football pitch
highly porous (0.7-0.8 cm3/g)
micro, macro and transitional pores that allow rapid access of solution. The real density of
carbon is 2.0-2.2g/cm3 but when the pores are filled with water activated carbon particle has a
density ranging 1.38-1.47 g/cm3
Highly reactive surface due to the carbon atoms with unsaturated bonds which constitute active
sites.

Because of these properties, activated carbon has found hydrometallurgical use mainly in the
separation and concentration of gold and silver from cyanide leach solution. However, it has also
been applied to a lesser extent to the recovery of other metals such as pgms, Re and Mo.
Outside extractive metallurgy it is used for gas purification, decaffeination, water
purification, medicine, sewage treatment, air filters in gas masks and respirators etc.
4.2.1 Mechanism of gold adsorption and desorption
Several mechanisms of gold adsorption from cyanide solutions have been proposed.
The adsorption of aurocyanide complex is a reversible process with generally faster
kinetics for desorption under modified conditions. Most accepted theory states that the
species are adsorbed as neutral ion pairs i.e. Mn+[Au(CN) 2-]n onto active sites of
activated carbon. Additionally some adsorption of the unpaired anion Au(CN)2occurs through electrostatic interactions at highly active sites of activated carbons that
have appropriate polarity. The model followed is the pore diffusion model.
The adsorption process has been found to confirm with Freundlich equation:
=
Where Q = equilibrium quantity of adsorbed metal cyanide complex per gram of
carbon (mol/g)

c = equilibrium concentration of metal cyanide complex in the solution (mol/dm 3)

k and n are constants.
The factors that favour the adsorption of Au and Ag by activated carbon are:

Carbon with high density of active sites and practically small particle size to reduce
diffusion path length
Lower temperatures
Lower pH values of solution but suitable for cyanide ions stability (remember gold
leaching!)
Presence of Ca2+ ions
Low free cyanide concentration

Once the gold/silver has been loaded onto carbon, separation with the barren solution
can be effected by making use of screens. In the next stage, the valuable metals are
stripped from the carbon into another solution, which becomes highly concentrated. This
process is called elution. The stripped carbon is then regenerated or reactivated in
preparation for re-use. Elution is accomplished by treating the loaded carbon with a hot,
concentrated alkaline solution of sodium cyanide. High temperature is needed because
as T increases the electrostatic forces between carbon and gold cyanide complex
decreases. High alkalinity and CN concentration are necessary because both OH- and
CN- displace gold from the carbon and instead get preferentially adsorbed. Practically,
the following conditions are applied:

Solution containing 10g/l NaOH and 2g/l NaCN.

90oC temperature
Up to 48hrs stripping time.

Variation of temperature and pressure has been found to drastically reduce the elution
time and based on this some commercial methods in practice modified the conditions
a) The Zadra process (after J.B. Zadra): It is the most commonly used method. It recycles
and reuses hot solutions of 1% w/v NaOH, 0.5% w/v NaCN through a gold cyanideloaded carbon bed for up to 72hours at 95100oC at 1 atm pressure to desorb Au(CN)2- .
At elevated pressure (600kPa) and temperature (140oC), elution time is reduced by 1012 hours.
b) The Anglo American Research Laboratory [AARL] Process: method requires carbon
loaded with gold to be washed in a dilute mineral acid and then washed with water. The
loaded carbon is then soaked in1 bed volume (b.v) of 3% NaCN and 1% NaOH solution
for about 30min. The gold is the eluted using de-ionised water at 100-120oC and 70-100
kPa. About 99% of the gold is stripped in 8-12 hours in 12 b.vs. However, the process is
very sensitive to water quality e.g. TDS< 1000ppm and Ca + Mg <200ppm.
c) Solvent-assisted (or alcohol stripping): Elution can be achieved at atmospheric pressure
using hydro-alcoholic solutions at 95oC. Use of 20% alcohol (ethanol or methanol) can
reduce elution time of Zadra process to 12-16h. Alternatively, glycols (e.g. ethylene or
propylene glycol), which unlike alcohols are not fire hazardous, can be used in
proportions of 20-25% to reduce elution times to 24-36h.

4.2.2 Carbon regeneration

After stripping, the carbon is should be regenerated or reactivated before it is reused to eliminate any fouling that could have occurred in the process. Carbon fouling
or poisoning refers to the build-up of organic and inorganic substances on carbon
which detrimentally affects its ability to adsorb Au/Ag. It also affects the elution
process negatively. So after stripping and before re-using it, the carbon is acid
washed to remove the fouling species (esp CaCO3). After that the carbon is
regenerated by heating to 600-800oC in a kiln in the absence of oxygen. Steam can
be added in the process. In a period of 15 hrs the carbon gets generated to 99%
activity when compared to new carbon. After that the carbon is screened to remove
fines that could have been generated during handling. Coarse carbon is recycled
into the process while the fines are discarded.