Obtaining of Maghemite Containing Red Mud for Effective As(V) Adsorption

This paper describes the studies of the use of red muds as adsorbents for cleaning solutions from As(V). The red mud is a waste that contains a large amount of iron oxides and hydroxides, which are excellent adsorbents of arsenic, especially those possessing magnetic properties and large specific surface area. The purpose of the experiment was to study the possibility of obtaining an effective adsorbent by direct extraction of alumina from bauxite using the caustic alkali fusion method and optimization of the process. The main iron-containing phase of the red muds obtained by fusing bauxite with caustic alkali was maghemite, which has a large specific surface area. Arsenic adsorption experiments were carried out using red muds obtained through bauxite alkali fusing at different temperatures and time of fusion, as well as the mass ratio of caustic alkali to bauxite. The red muds obtained by fusing bauxite with caustic alkali at 400∘ C and NaOH to bauxite mass ration 1.5 within 70 minutes have the highest effectiveness removing arsenic. Their As(V) uptake capacity was over than 37 mg/g. Keywords: red mud, maghemite, nanoparticles, As(V) adsorption, optimizatio

Increased As Adsorption on Maghemite-Containing Red Mud Prepared by the Alkali Fusion-Leaching Method

This study investigates the use of red muds as adsorbents for As (V) removal. Red mud is a waste that contains a large amount of iron oxides and hydroxides, which are excellent adsorbents of arsenic, especially those possessing magnetic properties and a large specific surface area. The purpose of the experiments was to study the possibility of obtaining an effective adsorbent by the direct extraction of alumina from bauxite using the caustic alkali fusion method and to compare the arsenic removal effectiveness and other properties of these red muds with industrial samples. Red muds were described using methods such as X-ray diffraction spectrometry (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), SEM, vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), and the Brunauer⁻Emmett⁻Teller (BET) method. The main iron-containing phase of the red muds obtained by fusing bauxite with caustic alkali is maghemite, which has a large specific surface area. The specific surface area of the obtained samples varied in the range of 6.1⁻54.9 m2/g. Arsenic adsorption experiments were carried out using five different types of red muds: industrial Bayer, industrial sintering, and red mud obtained through bauxite alkali fusion at 300, 500, and 700 °C. The red muds obtained by fusing bauxite with caustic alkali at 300 and 500 °C had the highest effectiveness removing arsenic; their As(V) uptake capacity was over 30 mg/g

Leaching Kinetics of Sulfides from Refractory Gold Concentrates by Nitric Acid

The processing of refractory gold-containing concentrates by hydrometallurgical methods is becoming increasingly important due to the depletion of rich and easily extracted mineral resources, as well as due to the need to reduce harmful emissions from metallurgy, especially given the high content of arsenic in the ores. This paper describes the investigation of the kinetics of HNO3 leaching of sulfide gold-containing concentrates of the Yenisei ridge (Yakutia, Russia). The effect of temperature (70–85 °C), the initial concentration of HNO3 (10–40%) and the content of sulfur in the concentrate (8.22–22.44%) on the iron recovery into the solution was studied. It has been shown that increasing the content of S in the concentrate from 8.22 to 22.44% leads to an average of 45% increase in the iron recovery across the entire range temperatures and concentrations of HNO3 per one hour of leaching. The leaching kinetics of the studied types of concentrates correlates well with the new shrinking core model, which indicates that the reaction is regulated by interfacial diffusion and diffusion through the product layer. Elemental S is found on the surface of the solid leach residue, as confirmed by XRD and SEM/EDS analysis. The apparent activation energy is 60.276 kJ/mol. The semi-empirical expression describing the reaction rate under the studied conditions can be written as follows: 1/3ln(1 − X) + [(1 − X)−1/3 − 1] = 87.811(HNO3)0.837(S)2.948e−60276/RT·t