Highly selective and straightforward recovery of gold and platinum from acidic waste effluents using cellulose-based bio-adsorbent

Abstract

Recovery of precious metals (PMs: AuIII and PtIV) from waste resources is of high importance due to the environmental concern and imbalance in the supply-demand ratio. A new approach has been explored for the recovery of PM using earlier developed bio-adsorbent, dithiocarbamate-modified cellulose (DMC). The adsorbent exhibits excellent adsorption efficiency (~99%) over a wide range of pH (< 1–6) and high selectivity towards AuIII and PtIV extraction from acidic solutions ([H+]: ≥ 0.2 mol L–1). The adsorption capacity (mmol g–1; AuIII: 5.07, PtIV: 2.41) and rate to reach equilibrium (≤ 30 min) were significantly higher than most of the reported bio-adsorbents. The AuIII or PtIV, after captured in DMC, was subsequently recovered as Au0 and Pt0 (yield > 99%) via incineration. The protocol was verified using real waste samples containing AuIII and PtIV in a mixed matrix of base metal ions, and a quantitative (~100%) and selective extraction of AuIII and PtIV were observed. The proposed technique is more effective and straightforward than the typical adsorption-desorption-reduction based method, because of the advantages like no-use of toxic eluents, and no-addition of any reductants to collect the PMs in elemental form.