Activated carbon is essential for gold recovery, allowing efficient extraction of gold from ores and cyanide solutions through the CIL or CIP process.
The high adsorption capacity of activated carbon captures fine gold particles and increases gold production.
This paper discusses the role and advantages of activated carbon in gold recovery, emphasizing its environmental and economic advantages in mining.
Gold Recovery Process
The three commonly used gold recovery processes: CIP (Carbon-in-Pulp), CIL (Carbon-in-Leach), and CIC (Carbon-in-Column), all rely on the participation of activated carbon.
The gold recovery typically involves the following steps:
The CIP (carbon slurry) and CIL (carbon leaching) process involves crushing and grinding gold ore, forming a slurry, and using cyanide or a replacement agent to dissolve the gold. Activated carbon adsorbs the dissolved gold, which is then eluted and electrolyzed to obtain metallic gold. The activated carbon is thermally regenerated for reuse, improving gold recovery efficiency and enabling recycling.
Application of activated carbon in gold recovery
Adsorption Principle of Activated Carbon
Activated carbon is capable of efficiently adsorbing gold due to its vast specific surface area and abundant porous structure. There are intermolecular forces such as van der Waals forces between the carbon atoms on the surface of the activated carbon and the gold cyanide complexes, which allow the gold cyanide complexes to be firmly adsorbed on the surface of the activated carbon.
In the recovery process of gold and silver, more than 95% of the carbon used is steam-activated coconut-based carbon. Coconut shell activated carbon is favored for its excellent performance:
Advantages of coconut shell activated carbon
- High adsorption capacity: Coconut shell activated carbon has a well-developed pore structure and huge specific surface area, which can adsorb a large amount of gold-cyanide complexes.
- High Mechanical Strength: Coconut shell activated carbon has high hardness and abrasion resistance, which can withstand the complex hydrodynamic conditions in the gold recovery process and reduce the loss of activated carbon.
- Easy desorption: The gold-cyanide complex can be desorbed from the coconut shell activated carbon relatively easily, which is conducive to improving the gold recovery rate.
- Renewable: Coconut shell activated carbon can be regenerated many times, which reduces the cost of gold recovery.
Activated Carbon Selection
Selection of the correct activated carbon is critical for gold recovery. Considerations include particle size distribution, adsorption capacity and physical strength. In gold recovery, coconut shell granular activated carbon is commonly used, including 6*12 mesh or 8*16 mesh sizes with iodine values of 900-1200. These coconut shell activated carbons have the following advantages that make them ideal for gold recovery.
Typical characteristics of Qizhong Gold Recovery Activated Carbon:
- Excellent adsorption capacity: The activation process gives it a submicroscopic porous network and a huge surface area, which provides numerous binding sites for gold molecules and enables fast and efficient adsorption of gold-cyanide complexes.
- Excellent abrasion resistance: Coconut shell activated carbon has high hardness, which is less depleted in the gold recovery process and can maintain stable adsorption performance for a long time.
- Good desorption properties: Gold can be easily desorbed from coconut shell activated carbon, which is favorable for subsequent extraction and refining.
Parameters of our activated carbon for gold recovery:
| Specifications | numerical |
| Mesh Size: | 6*12,8*16 |
| CCL4/CTC (%) Minimum | 55-60 |
| Iodine (mg/g) Minimum | 900-1200 |
| Moisture (%) Maximum | 5 |
| Hardness (%) Minimum | 98 |
| R value | 50-65 |
| K value | 26-32 |
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Activated carbon plays an indispensable role in gold recovery, not only improving the efficiency of gold extraction, but also providing a sustainable solution for the gold processing industry through its regeneration capacity.
We provide high quality coconut shell activated carbon products for various gold recovery processes. Our activated carbon products have the advantages of high adsorption capacity, high mechanical strength, and easy desorption, which can help you improve gold recovery and reduce production costs.
For more information about the application of activated carbon in gold recovery, welcome to contact us!
