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i
ASSESSMENT RECORD
% Mark
1. Executive Summary/Abstract 5
2. Introduction
Background to the report (Literature Review, Introduction, 5
Objectives)
3. Technical Content
Material Balance 10
Brief Introduction to task presented
Process flow sheets: BFD, PFD
Basis for calculation defined, SI units consistently used
throughout balance
Product specifications
All assumptions clearly stated, deviation between theory and 10
practice explained, balance presented in a clear methodical
manner
Energy Balance
Brief introduction to task presented
Process flow sheets: BFD, PFD
Basis for calculation defined, SI units consistently used
5
throughout balance
Product specifications
All assumptions clearly stated, deviation between theory and
practice explained, balance presented in a clear methodical
manner 15
P&ID Control
Brief introduction to task presented
P&ID System: Identify the various equipment
Computer generated P&ID produced, all major streams and
equipment labelled/acceptable symbols and notations used
15
Evaluation of Heat Transfer operation of any unit operation
Brief introduction to task presented
Process/plant flow sheet: BFD, PFD
Choice of heat transfer equipment in application justified
Calculations presented in a clear, methodical manner. SI
ii
units consistently used
All assumptions clearly stated and fully justified. Deviation
between actual and design fully discussed
Evaluation of Mass Transfer operation/separation unit
Brief introduction to task presented
Process/plant flow sheet: BFD, PFD
Choice of mass transfer equipment in application justified
Calculations presented in a clear, methodical manner. SI
units consistently used
All assumptions clearly stated and fully justified. Deviation
between actual and design fully discussed
4. Report lay-out and grammar 10
7. References 10
TOTAL 100
iii
Abstract
The production rate of newer technology is higher and almost impossible to stop or slow
down, every year newer electronics and electrics materials (cellphones, computers, etc.) are
produced and everyone want to be updated. But this production has its advantages mostly
economical and its disadvantages. Thus, the higher the rate of production, the higher the
electronic waste generation. To support and connect electronic components, all electronics
use printed circuit boards (PCBs). The PCBs contain a huge concentration of precious and
base metals compared to primary metal resources. The e-waste contains toxic substances,
which can affect human health both indirectly and directly. Therefore, the environment must
be protected by recycling and recovering the metals from e-waste with regard to resource
conservation.
Hydrometallurgy is the preferred method for the recovery of precious metals because of its
low production of gas and dust emissions, and low use of energy (Akcil et al., 2015) and it is
also known as a perfect process for high precious metal recovery. The recovery of gold was
regularly made by the cyanidation, it is an old leaching process for the recovery of the gold
and other valuable metals, but this process is very toxic and has been prohibited in some
countries. Various studies have been conducted recently to find some cyanide alternatives.
Different non-cyanides have been found, but for this investigation, the ammonium
thiosulphate had been chosen as the preferred cyanide alternatives.
The PCBs granules of ±2mm mm were leached in a 700 mL reactor in open atmosphere.
The recovery of gold has be done using copper then an alternative (nickel) has been
proposed at the same recovery condition and it was found More golds are extracted (almost
50% extraction) using nickel as a catalyst than copper (21%) at the same condition (room
temperature (25 degrees Celsius), 0.03M copper sulphate, 0.1M ammonium thiosulfate, pulp
density: 50 g/L, pH: 10.5, and at and stirring speed of 350 rpm in 6h duration) because of its
low consumption. The effect of different parameters such as copper sulphate concentration,
ammonium thiosulfate concentration, pH was also studied.
iv
Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................iv
List of abbreviations.........................................................................................................vii
List of Symbols................................................................................................................viii
List of tables......................................................................................................................3
List of figures.....................................................................................................................3
1 Introduction...............................................................................................................4
2 Theoretical content....................................................................................................6
2.1 Material and Energy balance...........................................................................................6
2.1.1 The use of balance...........................................................................................................................6
2.1.2 System..............................................................................................................................................7
2.2 Mass balance...................................................................................................................8
2.2.1 Permanent Material Balances..........................................................................................................8
2.2.2 A reactor...........................................................................................................................................8
2.2.3 Material balance result....................................................................................................................9
2.3 Energy balance...............................................................................................................10
2.3.1 Derivation of the Energy Balance:..................................................................................................11
2.3.2 Heat transfer..................................................................................................................................12
2.3.3 Activation energy...........................................................................................................................16
2.3.4 Heat of reaction.............................................................................................................................17
2.3.5 Rate of reaction..............................................................................................................................17
2.4 Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS).........................................................................18
3 TECHNICAL CONTENT................................................................................................19
3.1 Process description........................................................................................................19
3.1.1 Size Reduction Process...................................................................................................................19
3.1.2 Copper ATS Leaching Process with acid pre-treatment.................................................................20
3.1.3 AAS Process....................................................................................................................................22
3.1.4 Aqua Regia leaching(Anon, n.d.)....................................................................................................23
3.1.5 Block Flow Diagram........................................................................................................................24
3.1.6 Process Flow Diagram....................................................................................................................25
Size reduction...............................................................................................................................................25
Leaching........................................................................................................................................................25
Extraction......................................................................................................................................................25
v
6 References................................................................................................................11
APPENDICE A: Experimental Raw Data.............................................................................12
Particle Size Distribution............................................................................................................12
Aqua regia leaching....................................................................................................................12
Cu-ATS leaching..........................................................................................................................14
Ni-ATS leaching..........................................................................................................................15
APPENDICE B: Sample of calculation................................................................................18
APPENDICE B: Mathematical modelling of a batch reactor...............................................21
vi
List of abbreviations
AAS: Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
ATS: Ammonia Thiosulphate
Au: Gold
BFD: Block Flow Diagram
CA: Actual concentration
CD: Diluted concentration
Cu: Copper
H2O2: Hydrogen peroxide
MSDS: Material Safety Data Sheet
ppm: Part per million
NaOH: Sodium hydroxide
Ni: Nickel
PCB: Printing circuit board
PFD: Process Flow Diagram
PI&D: Process Instrumentation Diagram
pH: Potential Hydrogen
WEE: Waste Electronic Equipment
PSD: Particle Size Distribution
vii
List of Symbols
P Pressure Pa
Particle size μm
C Concentration ppm
T Time s
T Temperature K
V Volume m3
viii
List of tables
Table 1 metal content............................................................................................................. 8
Table 2: PSB on Frequency Basis........................................................................................12
Table 3: PSB Cumulative Basis............................................................................................12
Table 4: Metal content.......................................................................................................... 12
Table 5: Fixed factor............................................................................................................. 12
Table 6: Actual Copper concentration in ppm......................................................................13
Table 7: Actual gold concentration in ppm............................................................................13
Table 8: Dilute concentration in ppm....................................................................................13
Table 9: fixed factors............................................................................................................ 14
Table 10: titration (run and replicate)....................................................................................14
Table 11: Responses........................................................................................................... 15
Table 12: fixed factors.......................................................................................................... 15
Table 13: titration.................................................................................................................. 16
Table 14: Responses........................................................................................................... 17
List of figures
Figure 1 the top 10 countries that generate most e-waste in the world...................................4
Figure 2 Example of a system................................................................................................7
Figure 3 Conduction heat transfer........................................................................................12
Figure 4 Heat flow with convective boundaries: cylindrical wall............................................14
Figure 5: Grinding machine..................................................................................................19
Figure 6 copper ATS leaching..............................................................................................20
Figure 7: AAS set-up............................................................................................................ 22
Figure 8: Reaction process set - up......................................................................................23
Figure 9 overall BFD............................................................................................................ 24
Figure 10 overall PFB.............................................................................................................3
Figure 11 P&ID of a reactor....................................................................................................3
Figure 12 cumulative PSD......................................................................................................4
Figure 13 frequency PSD.......................................................................................................4
Figure 14 Cu-ATS leaching....................................................................................................6
Figure 15 Ni-ATS leaching.....................................................................................................6
Figure 16 batch reactor........................................................................................................ 21
3
1 Introduction
New technologies are going so fast that they cannot be stopped. If there is a time
when the world has made great progress in new technologies, it is the era of the
present generation. Progress is palpable at the high-tech level. Every day,
researchers make constant improvements and new research to improve the products
and services they offer, as well as to create new ones. Indeed, all that is possible
today was hardly possible a few years ago. People did not even know that it was
possible to imagine or even create all these things that exist today. Technology has
allowed so many innovations that if we were to list everything the list would go on
forever.
Because of the electronic equipment production, this led to the increase of electronic
waste (e-Waste) which invent more opportunities in the economic growth by
recycling of important metals that the waste contains and over 50 million metric tons
of e-waste is generated in the world per year, and China is on top of the list with 7.2
million tons per annum followed by the US with 6.3 million tons per annum.
Figure 1 the top 10 countries that generate most e-waste in the world
All electronics use printed circuit boards (PCBs) which contain a huge concentration of
precious and base metals to support and connect electronic components. The e-waste
contains toxic substances, which can affect human health both indirectly and
directly(Albertyn, 2017). E-waste is made up of a complex mixture of non-ferrous, plastic and
ferrous, ceramic materials. The Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe (APME)
specified that the main components of electronic and electric equipment are ferrous (38 %),
4
non-ferrous (28 %) and (19 %)plastic (Albertyn, 2017). the PCBs which are found in e-waste
form are composed 30% ceramics,30% plastics, 40% metals.
These materials can be environmentally unsafe. Therefore, the environment must be
protected by recycling e-waste which provides both economic and environmental benefits
because it contains valuable constituents and also recovering the metals from e-waste with
regard to resource conservation. To extract important metals from e-waste, two main
process are used, which are hydrometallurgy and pyro-metallurgy(Dong et al., 2017). the
pyro-metallurgical processes were used as a main treatment of e-waste, but due to the
emission of toxic gases and low recovery of metals, the hydrometallurgical processes were
taken with more consideration because it is easily controlled and better predictable.
The recovery of gold was regularly made by the cyanidation for many years, but because of
its toxicity, it has been prohibited in some countries. Thus, studies have been conducted
recently to find some cyanide alternatives such as thiourea, thiosulphate, etc. But it has been
proved that thiosulfate is the most used nowadays because it is more environmentally
friendly.
The recovery of gold from waste mobile PCB using ammonium thiosulfate is the aim of this
work. Various parameters and their effects such as copper sulphate concentration,
ammonium thiosulphate concentration, pH were also studied.
5
2 Theoretical content
Newton’s law is considered to be one of the laws of nature, so as the conservation of energy
and mass, it is also the law of nature. This law affirms that energy and mass cannot be
created or destroyed. The use of these laws of conservation in processes (chemical
processes in particular) leads to energy and material (mass) balances. These balances
( material and energy) are very important for process plants and engineering practice,
analysis and operation of the plants, process units, for design, and for economical and
inventory evaluation. Material and energy balances are often used as the major conditions
(constraints) in developing or establishing many design equations. In a word, material and
energy balances are the basic principles of chemical engineering and process
technology(Lors, n.d.)
6
2.1.2 System
To establish the balance of matter or energy, one must define and select the part of the
process to be studied that will be called system. So, by definition, a system is the matter
contained in a portion of space, delimited by a boundary which fixes its volume.
S1 S2 S3
7
Extensive quantities, which are functions of the chosen system: mass, number of
moles, volume, flows, etc.
Intensive quantities, independent of the choice of the system: density,
concentration, pressure, temperature, etc.
2.2.2 A reactor
A reactor is any apparatus in which the transformation takes place chemical, meaning the
transformation of molecular species into other species molecular. A reactor is a system that
8
can be, like any other system for this investigation an open system (batch reactor) is used.
The batch reactor is perfectly mixed, usually in the liquid phase.:
Open: when it can exchange matter and energy with the outside
environment.
Closed: when it cannot exchange matter (exchange of energy remains
possible)
Isolated: if it cannot exchange matter or energy with the outside
environment
The overall material balance was conducted on the Cu ATS leaching reactor the production
of metals used. The input amount of 35g of PCBs entered the system and 19.06g left the
system as product. Because the process is not operating under steady-state (batch
process) the input cannot be equal to the output.
9
2.3 Energy balance
The second property to be considered in the general balances on a control volume. The
same way the general mass balance had been obtained, the principle of the conservation of
energy are applied to a control volume fixed in space. The first law of thermodynamics is
then combined with the conservation of energy equation will then to produce the overall
energy-balance equation. The first law of thermodynamics can be written as:
∆ E=Q−W
The term "generated energy" is to be considered in the broad sense: energy produced or
consumed. It is the same for the term of accumulation (variation in the time of the energy in
the volume of control).
The generation term, may appear in the following cases:
exothermic or endothermic chemical reactions,
nuclear reactions - viscous dissipation
Joule effect in an electrical resistance
10
2.3.1 Derivation of the Energy Balance:
The energy of a stream is made of made of potential, kinetic and internal energy
E J =u+ E K + E p
^2
V
E j=m j ( u^j + J +gz j)
2
W =W S + W FL
W ¿ =P¿∗V ¿
W F =P¿ .V ¿ −Pout . V out
W FL=∑ m j . P j . V
^J −∑ m j . P j .^
VJ
¿ out
^2
+V ^2
+V
J J
Q+W S + ∑ m j ( u^j + P j V
^J ¿ + gz j )=∑ m j ( u^j + P j V
^J ¿ + gz j )¿ ¿
¿ 2 out 2
H=u+ PV
+ V^2J ^2
+V J
Q+W S + ∑ m j (H J ¿ + gz j )=∑ m j (H j ¿ + gz j) ¿ ¿
¿ 2 out 2
For an open system the equation becomes
∆ H + ∆ EK +∆ E P=Q+W S
For a batch system
^2
V J
; gz j ; P j V
^J =0(because no flow∈¿ out during the process)
2
∆ u=Q+W S
11
2.3.2 Heat transfer
There is heat transfer between two points where different temperatures prevail: the transfer
always takes place from the highest temperature to the lowest temperature. The difference
in temperature is the driving force of heat transfer. There are three types of heat transfer:
2.3.2.1 Conduction:
Conduction is the propagation of heat from molecules to molecules (or from atoms to atoms
or ions to ions) in a body or in several contiguous bodies without there being any movement
of this medium.
12
2.3.2.2 Convection:
Convection is the propagation of heat in a moving fluid. The heat transfer is affected by the
combined action of the conduction within the fluid and the movement of the fluid. The
conduction therefore intervenes in the convection, but the movement of the fluid leads to
different laws of a phenomenon of conduction without displacement of matter.
Forced convection is when the movement of the fluid is affected by external forces (pump,
fan, agitator) and natural convection when the movement is under the influence of
differences in density due to differences in within the fluid.
On a surface, the global phenomenon of heat transfer is expressed in a practical way by
Newton's cooling law:
q=hA (T s−T o )
Where:
T S is the temperature of the solid surface in K
T O is the average or bulk temperature of the fluid flowing by in K
h is the convective heat-transfer coefficient in W 1m2. K
Here are some examples of situations with convection heat transfer: heat exchanger, hair
dryer, fan, .... when you blow on your coffee to cool it!
2.3.2.3 Radiation:
Radiation is the emission by a body of electromagnetic waves that are the vectors of this
heat transfer. The waves are emitted in all directions and belong to the field of infra-red and
visible. No material support is needed for their propagation.
It is a type of heat transfer that is familiar to us: winter in front of a good fire or summer on
the beach in the sun. The heat passes from a body at high temperature to a body at low
temperature in the form of electromagnetic radiation (photon); the two bodies must be in a
transparent medium (like air or emptiness).
The maximum flux density emitted by a surface is given by Stephan-Boltzmann’s law:
q max =σ T 4S
where the Stephan-Boltzmann constant (σ) is 5.669 10-8 W / (m2.K4)
The maximum flux is obtained for an ideal surface (black body). However, the real surfaces
(gray body) have a certain emissivity (ε) that reduces the flux emitted by the surface:
q real=ε σ T 4S
In the case where this surface is surrounded by another surface at a temperature (T ENV), the
net heat exchange is then:
q net =ε σ (T 4S −T 4ENV )
13
2.3.2.4 The overall heat-transfer coefficient
An overall heat transfer coefficient is used to combine together the effects of convection and
conduction. Consider a pipe with an inside diameter ri and the outside ro, the fluid flows
inside the pipe with a bulk temperature of Ti and t& for the outside bulk temperature of air.
This pipe is made of K material. he convective heat transfer coefficients for the inside and
outside are respectively hi and ho.
A
Ti
ri
Tь
ro
hi
ho
14
1 1 ro 1
= + ln /2 πLk +
U i A i hi A i ri ho A o
15
the tank volume is 700ml which is 0.0007m3
Assumption:
Ao =0.0343 m 2
hi =1200 w/m 2 . K
h o=22 w/m2 . K
k glass=0.75 w/m. K
L
=1,3¿ the standard tank configuration
D
D 2 L D3
v= +
4 24
1.3 π D 3 π D 3
0.0007= +
4 24
0.0007=1.152 D3
D=0.0847 m
L=0.11 m Ai=π D i∗L
Ai=0,0847 π∗0.11
Ai=0.0293 m2
27−21
q=
1 0,01715 1
+ ln /2 π∗0.11∗0.75+
( 1200∗0.0293 ) 0.01465 22∗0.0343
q=3.62 W
For a batch reactor
∆ u=Q+W S
∆ u=Q
∆ u=3.62 w
16
2.3.3 Activation energy
Different relationships have been proposed to explain the temperature dependence of the
constant of speed of a reaction. The expression generally used is the relation established by
Arrhenius in 1889. Arrhenius, a Swedish chemist, has collected large amounts of numerical
data concerning the behavior of many chemical reactions depending on the temperature, to
obtain this relationship. This relationship was confirmed around 1935 as a result of
development in theoretical chemistry, it is why this law is often called the semi-empirical law
of Arrhenius:
d lnK E a
= 2
dT RT
Ea. denotes the molar activation energy; it corresponds (in a simplified way) to the energy to
be supplied to the system for the reaction to take place. It is of the order of a few tens of
kJ.mol-1. On an interval temperature below 100K, it can be considered that the activation
energy is constant. By therefore, the law of Arrhenius can be written in the following
integrated form:
K= Ae−E / RT
a
A is the preexponential factor, homogeneous to a speed constant, it takes into account the
frequency of collisions and steric effects
Ea =
−R . ln
K1 ( )
1 1
−
T2 T1
17
0.00061
Ea =
−8.3145∗ln ( 0.000513 )
1 1
−
300 298
Ea =64365 j/mol
Ea =64,4 kj/mol
0,395−0,358
R x=
3600−1200
R X =1.538∗10−5 M /s
18
dT
Cp ( N A + N B ) =∆ H rx . r A V +Q
dt
dT
4.186 ( 0,46184 +0,000524 ) = ( 0.05951∗0.00001538 ) +3.62
dt
dT
1.9355 =3.62
dt
dT
=1.87
dt
19
3 TECHNICAL CONTENT
20
3.1.2 Copper ATS Leaching Process with acid pre-treatment
- 300ml were measured and poured into the reactor; the stirrer was switched on and
run at a speed of 350rev/min, a vortex was noticed because of the high speed and
also because of the reactor which was not baffled.
- 28g of PCBs powder were weighed and poured into the same reactor, and the speed
was adjusted to 369rev/min. after the PCBs were well mixed with the water in the
reactor, 5.24g of Cu2+ were added into the solution at the same speed.
- Then 21.8ml of NH4OH were added, precipitation and color changed was noticed, the
color changed from dark green to dark blue, then 10.37g of ammonium thiosulphate
were added to the same solution. Finally, 300ml of water were added to feel the
reactor at 700ml.
- According to the literature, there is a reasonable recovery of gold at P H of 10.5, so
the PH meter was set a 10.5. 30ml more of 20ml of NaOH were added to the solution
to increasing the PH until 10.48 because it was very low.
- The process runs for 4 hours but to stabilize the PH, 1ml of NaOH had been adding
to the solution after every 30min
Titration
1. An initial volume V1 was recorded from the reactor
2. The pH was adjusted on range the of [7 to 7.5]
21
3. A new volume V2 was recorded afterward
4. This volume was place in a burette, and a new volume VT0 was recorded
5. 5mL of iodine plus 2mL of starch solution and 2 mL of acetate were added in the
beaker
6. A final volume VTF was recorded after titration. Noted that a colour changed, go from
a dark brown to white milk solution
7. Then the difference between the titration volume L2 was calculated
8. ATS was calculated with all the data recorded
22
3.1.3 AAS Process
all samples must be diluted before testing the actual concentration in the AAS
because of acetylene toxicity the gas must be closed after the usage
when once the application is on the green light have to appear
23
3.1.4 Aqua Regia leaching(Anon, n.d.)
24
3.1.5 Block Flow Diagram
PCBs are collected from more than 50 broken cellphones. Then they are disassembly by
removing all unwanted components. After disassembling them, they are reduced to the
required size for the gold leaching process and finally gold is extracted using the resin
absorption technique. Gold is dissolved by the reagent and then removed from a stirred tank
reactor. It is then extracted from the pregnant leach solution by adsorption on resins.
Size reduction
recovery
Resins loaded
Component disassembly
leaching
PCBs
25
3.1.6 Process Flow Diagram
Figure 12 showed the overall process in details. It can be divided in 3 process which are:
size reduction, leaching and extraction.
Size reduction
The cell phones are collected and disassembled using screwdrivers and others tools to
removed unwanted components(batteries and covers), then the PCBs are collected from the
cell phones(unwanted components are also removed from PCBs). These unwanted
components are impurities which can slow the size reduction process. The size reduction
process is also divided in 3 parts the PCBs are first reduced to 1cm2 granules, then they are
crushed using a hammer mill to ≤ 2mm, finally the sieving part. All granules ≥ 2mm are
crushed recycled for them to have a required size, which will be used for the leaching
process.
Leaching
This process is conducted under 25 degrees by using a water bath. pH solution is control
using a pH meter. The solution mixed contains: Copper thiosulphate, ammonium hydroxide,
sodium hydroxide, deionized water and ammonium thiosulphate. The stirrer is running at a
speed of 700rpm and the tank is not baffled, after 4h run, the PCBS slurry fed through the
second rector by passing through a filter where the extraction begins using resin adsorption.
Extraction
the clarified liquor solution fed into the adsorption tank containing resins granules which
absorb the gold and the copper. The parameters are again controlled in this section. This
process removes more gold that the other metals.
26
-heat sinks
-Capacitors
Collection of -Piezo buzzers
broken cellphones -other metals
Cellphones PCBs Component
disassembly disassembly
PCBs granules
-Batteries 2mm
-covers
-NaOH
-Copper thiosulphate
Water at -Amonium hydroxide
25 degree -Amonium thiosulphate
stirrer stirrer
T
Pregnant leach Clear Pregnant Loaded
filter
liquor leach liquor resins
waterbath
3
3.1.7 piping and instrumentation diagram
A piping and instrumentation diagram gives a close view on the system which is used for the
process. Based on the reactor used, the temperature and pH meter of the reaction were
placed in the reactor to control the system. Water was flowing from The cooler, which is the
water bath, to the jacket and back in the cooler. The temperature of the cooler was set at 30
degrees Celsius, the pH had to be maintained at 10.5 and the inside temperature at
27degrees Celsius.
-NaOH
-Copper thiosulphate
-Amonium hydroxide pH TI
-Amonium thiosulphate
TI
3
4 Results and discussion
Cummulati ve PSD
1.00
0.80
Mass Fraction
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Particle Size (μm)
Frequency PSD
0.60
0.40
Mass Fraction
0.20
0.00
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Particle Size (μm)
4
Sieve analysis is used for this investigation as the particle size method, which covers a wide
range of sizes. The sieves were arranged in a way that the sieve with a larger opening size
were placed above the ones having smaller sizes. Therefore the sieve with a diameter of
3000µm was placed at the top followed by 1700µm, 1000µm accordingly.
Frequency particle size distribution curve shows that the mass percentages of the sand
particles of size is initially 0% at 0µm, the mass percentages increases from 0µm until the
peak of approximately 50% at 500µm. this shows that most sand particles and granules
before milling are at or below 500µm. Then the mass percentages decrease with an
increase in particle from 500 to 1700 µm. then there is a small increase in in mass fraction,
this just shows the type of equipment used which is Retsch KG hammer mill crusher.
Frequency particle size distribution curve represents the relative amount at or below
particular size. 50% of the mass fraction is below 520µm and 60% of the amount of particles
is at 560µm.
5
4.2 Gold extraction
Cu-ATS
25.00
20.00
gold extraction (%)
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
time (mn)
Ni-ATS
50.00
45.00
40.00
35.00
gold extraction (%)
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
time (mn)
6
Copper is a good catalyst in gold leaching, but it has a higher thiosulphate consumption
which affect the gold price. Nickel has been studied for the last past years and it was found
that nickel is a perfect alternative catalyst for copper in gold leaching. It has been proved that
thiosulfate consumption was evidently lower during nickel-catalysed leaching than that of
copper catalysed leaching, and the gold and silver extractions with the nickel catalysis were
also comparable (Dong et al., 2017)
Thiosulfate consumption is high because thiosulfate itself is metastable and easily oxidized
by Cu(II), which is a catalyst for gold leaching and, furthermore, certain associated minerals
can accelerate the oxidation; the recovery of dissolved gold in pregnant leach solution is
difficult because of the low affinity of activated carbon for [Au(S 2O3)2]3−, the complex
eliminates the interference of [Cu(S2O3)3]5− for gold recovery from pregnant thiosulfate
Fig 14 and fig 15 show the extraction of gold using copper and nickel both at the same
condition (pulp density of 50g/l; ammonia thiosulfate concentration of 0.1M; ammonia
concentration of 0,3M; 25 degrees Celsius temperature; pH of 10,5; speed of 350rpm; for 6
hours). The results has proved that the extraction of gold is higher using nickel as a catalyst,
than copper. However, using copper the recovery of gold is more is more stable, because of
the presence of Ammonia is which modify the pH and stabilize the catalyst of cupric ion.
The highest recovery percentage of gold using copper was found to be 20,82% and for the
consumption 248,1 kg/t-PCB for the run and 132,7 kg/t-PCB. Then using Nickel catalyst the
highest recovery percentage of gold using copper was found to be 44,22% and for the
consumption 54,5 kg/t-PCB for the run and 54.9 kg/t-PCB. It is clear that the choice of a
catalyst has a serious effect on the gold recovery. The higher the consumption, the less the
recovery of gold.
7
4.3 Effect of copper ion concentration
Has a very important role in thiosulphate leaching. The gold leaching rate is very low without
copper ion, the rate is increased with increase in copper concentration, it is difficult for the
leaching rate of gold to increase if the concentration of copper ion is out of the range, the
decreases of gold leaching rate can also be cause by the oxidation of thiosulfates by copper
ions. Copper is used as a catalyst in gold leaching and ammonium thiosulfate consumption.
Thus, the concentration of copper ion is controlled to prevent the use of ammonium
thiosulphate, 0.03 mol/l is the preferable coper ion concentration.
under the fixed factor conditions ((pulp density of 50g/l; 5g mass of solids; 25degrees
Celsius temperature;100ml reaction volume; for 24 hours). Copper (Cu) and Gold (Au)
,which are the main metals, were tested in the experiment and the initial mass fraction of the
base metals were found. To find the average only the maximum and the minimum
concentration of the metals were needed
8
As expected from the literature review, the highest concentration was found to be the
Copper(46,18) was found to have the highest concentration compare to gold(0,0524wt%), as
stated in the literature, on a rage of 43,53wt% to 48,07wt% for copper and 0,0456wt% to
0,0607wt%. A PCB contains high amounts of precious metals, about 20 % copper, 0.04 %
gold (Xia, 2008)
9
5 Conclusion
After this investigation, it can be concluded that ammonium thiosulphate is a favourable
alternative to cyanide because of its friendship with the environment. Gold can be extracted
from this method effectively using the thiosulphate method from printed circuit boards.
Different parameters such as thiosulfate concentration, ammonia concentration, copper ion
concentration and reaction time can affect the thiosulphate leaching. Copper ions and
ammonia have a very important role of catalysts during the thiosulfate leaching process. But
they also have a big disadvantage of consumption, using copper as a catalyst it leads to a
high consumption and low gold recovery, an alternative such Nickel has been used and a
high recovery of gold has been noticed with a small consumption.
The metal contents were found using the aqua regia process and it was noticed that in PCB,
there is a high concentration of copper(46,18wt%) than gold(0.0524wt%).
10
6 References
Akcil, A., Erust, C., Sekhar, C., Ozgun, M., Sahin, M. & Tuncuk, A. 2015. Precious metal recovery
from waste printed circuit boards using cyanide and non-cyanide lixiviants – A review. Waste
Management, 45: 258–271. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2015.01.017.
Albertyn, P.W. 2017. LEACHING OF GOLD FROM by. , (March).
Anon. Jacky Mouyecket - IST Report 2.
Dong, Z., Jiang, T., Xu, B., Yang, Y. & Li, Q. 2017. Recovery of Gold from Pregnant Thiosulfate
Solutions by the Resin Adsorption Technique. Metals, 7(12): 555.
Kasper, A.C. & Veit, H.M. 2018. Gold recovery from printed circuit boards of mobile phones scraps
using a leaching solution alternative to cyanide. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering,
35(3): 931–942.
Lors, E. Réaction chimique et bilan de matière. , 3: 3–6.
Xia, C. 2008. Associated Sulfide Minerals in Thiosulfate Leaching of Gold : Problems and
Solutions. , (September).
11
APPENDICE A: Experimental Raw Data
50 - 60 24 - 5 100
12
Table 6: Actual Copper concentration in ppm
Time
Time (h)
(min)
Run 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 24h
1 0 17905 19745 19750 19680 20360 20810 24035
2 0 19690 19990 19735 20870 21260 22230 23035
3 0 18855 19805 19650 21280 22365 22420 22935
4 0 20510 20310 21040 21675 21500 23215 23690
5 0 20500 20220 22320 22990 23075 23685 21765
13
Cu-ATS leaching
Table 9: fixed factors
Particle
Pulp density NH3 Temp
Size ATS (M) Cu2+ pH Time (h) Rpm
(g/L) (M) (°C)
(µm)
50 500 0,1 0,2 0,03 25 10,5 6 350
Reactio Cu Au
Solids
n Vol Mass Mass
Mass (g)
(mL) (g) (g)
Run 35 700 16,16 0,0183
Duplicate 35 700 16,16 0,0183
14
Table 11: Responses
Response 1: Au Extraction
Time (min) 0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Run 0,00 16,50 16,67 16,12 16,38 18,92 20,14
Dup 0,00 18,03 16,32 17,04 18,38 18,30 21,51
Mean 0,00 17,26 16,50 16,58 17,38 18,61 20,82
Std Dev 0,00 1,08 0,25 0,65 1,41 0,44 0,97
Ni-ATS leaching
Solids Reactio Cu Au
Mass n Vol Mass Mass
(g) (mL) (g) (g)
Run 35 700 16,16 0,0183
Duplicate 35 700 16,16 0,0183
15
Table 13: titration
Run R2: ATS Consumption
V1 V2 Vto Vtf L2 ATS
Time (min) %
(mL) (mL) (mL) (mL) (mL) (M) kg/t-PCB
0 - - - - - - 0 0
60 19 21,2 37,8 44,2 6,4 0,087 12,83 38,0
120 20 22,2 37,4 44,2 6,8 0,082 18,38 54,5
180 18,5 20,7 38,6 45 6,4 0,087 12,58 37,3
240 18,5 20,7 38,6 45,3 6,7 0,084 16,50 48,9
300 19 21,1 38,4 44,8 6,4 0,087 13,24 39,2
360 18,5 20,6 38,2 44,8 6,6 0,084 15,64 46,4
16
Table 14: Responses
Response 1: Au Extraction (%)
Time (min) 0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Run 0,00 31,57 29,62 17,39 22,34 48,95 41,05
Dup 0,00 25,02 24,49 18,81 24,83 44,83 44,22
Mean 0,00 28,29 27,05 18,10 23,59 46,89 42,63
Std Dev 0,00 4,63 3,63 1,01 1,76 2,92 2,24
17
APPENDICE B: Sample of calculation
Size Reduction
Total mass mT = m1(<500um) + m2(500um - 1000um) + m3(1000um - 1700um) +
m4(>1700um)
Total mass mt = 405.28g +152.18g +77.87g +192.99g
Total mass mt = 828.32g
18
Initial thiosulphate concentration
volume=0,7 l
148.95 g
Molar mass ATS=
mol
m=n∗Mr
m=148.95∗0.7
m=10.37 g
( 112.128∗10.37 )
2−¿ Conc= ∗100¿
( 148.95∗0.7 )
S2 O3
volume=0,7 l
155.68 g
Molar massCuSO 4 =¿
mol
m=5.24 g
( 63.53∗5.24)
2−¿ Conc= ∗100 ¿
( 155.68∗0.7 )
S2 O3
19
Titration calculation
o Total Thiosulphate Volume = Volume after titration – Volume before titration
L2 = Vtf –Vto
L2 = 46 mL - 38 mL= 8 mL
20
APPENDICE B: Mathematical modelling of a batch reactor
Consider the open system which has been used for the investigation
FAO FBO
A→B
V
Q
FA
NA NB
FB
T
- No phase change
dHA dT
=Cp
dt dt
d NA
=F AO −F A + r A V
dt
d NB
=F BO−F B +r B V
dt
- Substitute it in the general equation
21
dT
( N A . Cp A + N B .CpB ) dt =F AO . H A . ( T 0 ) + F BO . H B . ( T 0 )
−H A ( T ) ( F AO−r A V )
−H B ( T ) ( F BO −r A V ) +Q
dT
( N A . Cp A + N B .CpB ) dt =F AO . Cp A ( T −T 0 ) + F BO . CpB ( T −T 0 )
+ [ H B ( T )−H A ( T ) ] .r A V +Q
∆ H rx ( T )=H B (T )−H A ( T )
dT
( N A . Cp A + N B .CpB ) dt =F AO . Cp A ( T −T 0 ) + F BO . CpB ( T −T 0 )
+ ∆ H rx .r A V +Q
¿ batch reactor
Because there is no flow in and out of the reactor then the formula can be as follow
dT
( N A . Cp A + N B .CpB ) dt =∆ H rx . r A V +Q
22
The system can also be model part by part in other words by considering the jacket and the
reactor.
d ^ 1 2 ^ i + 1 V 2i + gzi ρi F I − ∑ ^ 1
dt [(
H + V + gz ṁ =∑ H
2 inlet
) ] (
2 )
outlet 2 ( )
H o + V 2o gz o ρ o FO + Q̇−Ẇ
ASSUMPTION
- No shaft work
- Insignificant change in E K ∧E P
- Fluid in the reactor is liquid constant C P
- Constant ^
H
Reactor Balance
d ^
dt [ R R ]
( H . ṁ ) =Q−q
d
( C .T . ṁ ) =Q−U A i (T R−T a )
dt [ P R R ]
dTR
ṁ R C P =Q−U A i (T R −T a)
dt
dTR Q U Ai
= − (T −T a)
dt m R C P mR C P R
d ^
dt [ J j ]
( H . ṁ ) = H
^ i . ṁi− H
^ J . ṁ i +q
d
( C .T . ṁ ) =C P .T i . ṁi−C P . T J . ṁi +q
dt [ P J j ]
d TJ
C P . ṁ j =C P .T i . ṁ i−C P . T J . ṁ i+ U A i (T R−T J )
dt
d T j ṁi ṁ U Ai
= . T i− i . T j + (T −T j )
dt m j mj m j. CP R
d T j ṁ i U Ai
= .( T ¿ ¿ i−T j )+ (T −T j) ¿
dt m j mj. CP R
23