Synthesis and application of tuneable carbon-silica composites from the microwave pyrolysis of waste paper for selective recovery of gold from acidic solutions

TY - JOUR

T1 - Synthesis and application of tuneable carbon-silica composites from the microwave pyrolysis of waste paper for selective recovery of gold from acidic solutions

AU - Sotiriou, Konstantina

AU - Supanchaiyamat, Nontipa

AU - Jiang, Tengyao

AU - Janekarn, Intuorn

AU - García, Andrea Muñoz

AU - Budarin, Vitaliy L.

AU - Macquarrie, Duncan J.

AU - Hunt, Andrew J.

N1 - © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020

PY - 2020/7/2

Y1 - 2020/7/2

N2 - Microwave pyrolysis bio-oil from waste paper and K60 silica gel has successfully been utilised to synthesise mesoporous carbon-silica composites with uniquely tuneable surface properties, where functionality and structural characteristics can be altered and even enhanced by curing at different temperatures. This temperature-dependence resulted in composites ranging from highly oxygenated polymerised bio-oil composites at 300 °C to aromatic carbonaceous materials covering the silica surface at 800 °C, making them attractive materials for gold recovery from mining wastewater. The composite materials exhibit exceptional ability and selectivity to recover gold from dilute solutions. Metal adsorption on the surface of these composites proceeded via both chemisorption and physisorption leading to the reduction of Au(iii) to Au(0), resulting in high recovery capacities for gold. Composite material prepared at 500 °C demonstrated the optimum combination of surface functionality and porosity, allowing for an adsorption capacity of 320 mg g-1 of gold and with 99.5% removal being achieved at concentrations mimicking those of real-life mine tailing wastes. All materials pioneered in this research display great potential as selective adsorbents for the recovery of gold from acidic media. This journal is

AB - Microwave pyrolysis bio-oil from waste paper and K60 silica gel has successfully been utilised to synthesise mesoporous carbon-silica composites with uniquely tuneable surface properties, where functionality and structural characteristics can be altered and even enhanced by curing at different temperatures. This temperature-dependence resulted in composites ranging from highly oxygenated polymerised bio-oil composites at 300 °C to aromatic carbonaceous materials covering the silica surface at 800 °C, making them attractive materials for gold recovery from mining wastewater. The composite materials exhibit exceptional ability and selectivity to recover gold from dilute solutions. Metal adsorption on the surface of these composites proceeded via both chemisorption and physisorption leading to the reduction of Au(iii) to Au(0), resulting in high recovery capacities for gold. Composite material prepared at 500 °C demonstrated the optimum combination of surface functionality and porosity, allowing for an adsorption capacity of 320 mg g-1 of gold and with 99.5% removal being achieved at concentrations mimicking those of real-life mine tailing wastes. All materials pioneered in this research display great potential as selective adsorbents for the recovery of gold from acidic media. This journal is

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087707944&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1039/d0ra02279a

DO - 10.1039/d0ra02279a

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85087707944

SN - 2046-2069

VL - 10

SP - 25228

EP - 25238

JO - RSC Advances

JF - RSC Advances

IS - 42

ER -