A review of biocyanidation as a sustainable route for gold recovery from primary and secondary low-grade resources

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:296

Review

Wang, Jingxiu¹  Faraji, Fariborz¹  Ramsay, Juliana²  Ghahreman, Ahmad¹ 

[1] Queens Univ, Robert M Buchan Dept Min, Hydromet & Environm Lab, 25 Union St, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada

[2] Queens Univ, Dept Chem Engn, 19 Div St, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada

关键词: Gold recovery;    Resource utilization;    Cyanide characterization;    Biocyanidation recycling;    Environmentally friendly;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126457

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Gold recovery from limited global resources has gained increasing attention due to a growing demand for gold and heightened social awareness of the high toxicity and the environmental threat of traditional cyanidation. This has led to the development of biomining methods to extract gold from low-grade ores and a variety of wastes using microbes to generate the required reagents. One such method, biocyanidation, has the potential to be an environmentally friendly technique for gold recovery from ore and secondary resources. This review quantifies the limited global gold resources, presents the gold leaching technologies, and describes the biocyanidation process, including the properties of commonly used cyanogenic bacteria and the influencing factors. Methods to measure free biogenic cyanide are summarized, with a focus on the silver nitrate method with potentiometric end-point titration. Finally, biocyanidation is systematically and comprehensively analyzed in the context of commercial and technical limitations imposed by low-grade gold reserves that are infeasible for commercialization, and recommendations for improvements to the process are suggested. This review provides insights on the necessity and urgency of recycling gold from both primary and secondary resources, the crucial role of biocyanidation, the present challenges and future directions toward commercial application of the process. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free