Ersin Y Yazici

Treatment of cyanide effluents by oxidation and adsorption in batch and column studies

In this study the removal of free cyanide from aqueous solutions by air oxidation and adsorption was investigated. Effects of air and pure oxygen, and catalyst on the rate and extent of the removal of cyanide were studied. It was found that the oxidative removal of cyanide by air/oxygen was very limited although it tended to improve in the presence of pure oxygen and catalyst such as activated carbon (AC) and copper sulphate. In the presence of continuous aeration, the non-oxidative removal of cyanide was correlated with a decrease in pH effected apparently by the transfer of carbon dioxide from air phase into the medium. The removal of cyanide by adsorption on activated carbon, nut shell (NS) and rice husk (RH) was also examined. Adsorption capacity of activated carbon was shown to be significantly enhanced via impregnation of activated carbons with metals such as copper (AC-Cu) and silver (AC-Ag). In the column tests, the breakthrough capacity of adsorbents was found to be in an increasing order of RH

Potential use of pyrite cinders as raw material in cement production: Results of industrial scale trial operations

Pyrite cinders, which are the waste products of sulphuric acid manufacturing plants, contain hazardous heavy metals with potential environmental risks for disposal. In this study, the potential use of pyrite cinders (PyCs) as iron source in the production of Portland cement clinker was demonstrated at the industrial scale. The chemical and mineralogical analyses of the PyC sample used in this study have revealed that it is essentially a suitable raw material for use as iron source since it contains >87% Fe(2)O(3) mainly in the form of hematite (Fe(2)O(3)) and magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)). The samples of the clinkers produced from PyC in the industrial scale trial operation of 6 months were tested for the conformity of their chemical composition and the physico-mechanical performance of the resultant cement products. The data were compared with the clinker products of the iron ore, which is used as the raw material for the production Portland cement clinker in the plant. The chemical compositions of all the clinker products of PyC appeared to conform to those of the iron ore clinker, and hence, a Portland cement clinker. The mechanical performance of the mortars prepared from the PyC clinker was found to be consistent with those of the industrial cements e.g. CEM I type cements. It can be inferred from the leachability tests (TCLP and SPLP) that PyC could be a potential source of heavy metal pollution while the mortar samples obtained from the PyC clinkers present no environmental problems. These findings suggest that the waste pyrite cinders can be readily used as iron source for the production of Portland cement. The availability of PyC in large quantities at low cost provides further significant benefits for the management/environmental practices of these wastes and for the reduction of mining and processing costs of cement raw materials.

Treatment of copper-rich gold ore by cyanide leaching, ammonia pretreatment and ammoniacal cyanide leaching

The treatment of a copper sulphide-bearing gold ore by direct cyanide leaching, ammonia pretreatment and ammoniacal cyanide leaching was investigated. Dissolution behaviour of gold and copper in these leaching systems was demonstrated. Severe interference by the copper containing sulphides with cyanide leaching of gold is observed at ρ(NaCN)≤5 g/L. This is consistent with speciation calculations. Ammonia pretreatment is shown to readily eliminate the copper interference, allowing almost complete extraction of gold with concomitantly low reagent consumption in subsequent cyanide leaching. In ammoniacal cyanide system, Box-Behnken experimental design shows the main and interaction effects of NH3, NaCN and Pb(NO3)2. The concentrations of NH3 and NaCN are statistically confirmed to be significant factors affecting extraction of gold while the effect of Pb(NO3)2 is limited. Increasing the concentration of NH3 improves the selectivity and extent of gold extraction and reduces the cyanide consumption. The contribution of reagent interactions to gold extraction is statistically insignificant. These findings highlight that ammonia pretreatment and ammonia−cyanide leaching are promising approaches for the treatment of gold ores with high copper sulphide

Improvement of Silver Extraction by Ultrafine Grinding Prior to Cyanide Leaching of the Plant Tailings of a Refractory Silver Ore

Ultrafine grinding (UFG) was proposed as a pretreatment method prior to cyanide leaching of old plant tailings of a refractory silver ore. Direct cyanidation of the as-received tailings (d80: 100 µm) led to a low silver extraction of only ≤43% over 24 h. A size-based diagnostic study has demonstrated that the refractoriness of the tailings is essentially physical in character. Therefore, effects of particle size/UFG (d99: 5–75 µm), concentrations of NaCN (0.75–2.25 g/L) and Pb(NO3)2 (0–500 g/t) on the extraction of silver were investigated using a Box–Behnken design. The statistical analysis of the experimental data (%Ag extraction at 1 h) revealed that particle size/UFG was the most significant parameter for the extraction of silver, which was substantially improved after UFG. A positive effect of increasing the concentration of NaCN was also observed particularly at finer particle sizes while the effect of concentration of Pb(NO3)2 was insignificant. Almost complete extraction for silver (i.e., ≥99%) was demonstrated to be possible at even higher concentrations of cyanide (>2.25 g/L NaCN) when using the finest material (d99: 5 µm) over only 1 h of leaching. Albeit, the consumption of cyanide tended to increase with UFG or increasing the initial concentration of cyanide. The findings showed that UFG can be used as a suitable and environmentally sound pretreatment method to improve the extraction of silver from the refractory silver ore tailings. The diagnostic approach adopted in the current study has proved to be a useful analytical tool to determine the amenability of the ore to ultrafine-grinding as a pretreatment process.

Recovery of Silver from X-Ray Film Processing Effluents Using Trimercapto-s-triazine (TMT)

In this study, the recovery of silver from waste X-ray photographic solutions by precipitation using trimercapto-s-triazine (TMT) was studied. Taguchi L25 (53) orthogonal design was adopted for the study. The effects of concentration of thiosulphate (5.2–200 g/L), TMT (Ag:TMT = 6.6–2.2), temperature (20–60°C) and pH (4.37–8.00) on the extent of the precipitation of silver were investigated. The findings have shown that the concentration of TMT and pH are the most significant factors affecting the recovery of silver while the effect of temperature (20–60°C) is insignificant under the conditions tested. The increase in the concentration of TMT and pH was found to improve the extent of precipitation of silver. TMT was also found to be an effective agent to reduce silver concentrations below the regulatory limit value of 5 ppm. Characterization of the precipitates was performed to identify silver-TMT compounds formed.

Ultra fine grinding of silver plant tailings of refractory ore using vertical stirred media mill

Abstract Ultra fine grinding of the plant tailings of a refractory silver ore was studied using a laboratory type vertical stirred media mill. Preliminary tests confirmed that ultra fine grinding substantially improves the extraction of silver from the tailings in cyanide leaching (i.e. 36% Ag extraction rate from the as-received tailings with d80 of 100 μm, c.f. 84% extraction rate after ultra fine grinding of the tailings with d80 of 1.2 μm). In the ultra fine grinding tests, the effects of ball diameter (2–4.5 mm), stirring speed (200–800 r/min) and ball charge ratio (50%–80%) on the fineness of grind (d80, μm) were investigated through a Box–Behnken design. Increasing stirrer speed and ball charge ratio decreased fineness of grind while larger balls resulted in the coarser products. The tests demonstrated that a fineness of grind less than 5 μm can be achieved under suitable conditions. Analysis of stress intensity indicated an optimum range of stress intensity of (0.8–2)×10−3 N·m for all power inputs.

Removal of Cyanide from Solutions by Air Oxidation and Adsorption

In this study the removal of free cyanide from aqueous solutions by air oxidation and adsorption was investigated. Effects of air and pure oxygen, and catalyst on the rate and extent of the removal of cyanide were studied. It was found that the oxidative removal of cyanide by air/oxygen was very limited although it tended to improve in the presence of pure oxygen and catalyst such as activated carbon and copper sulphate. In the presence of continuous aeration, the non-oxidative removal of cyanide was correlated with a decrease in pH effected apparently by the transfer of carbon dioxide from air phase into the medium. The removal of cyanide by adsorption on activated carbon (AC), nut shell (NS) and rice husk (RH) was also examined. Adsorption capacity of activated carbon was shown to be significantly enhanced via impregnation of activated carbons with metals such as copper (AC-Cu) and silver (AC-Ag). In the column tests, the breakthrough capacity of adsorbents was found to be in an increasing order of RH