Abstract
The interest in metal sulfide precipitation has recently increased given its capacity to efficiently recover several metals and metalloids from different aqueous sources, including wastewaters and hydrometallurgical solutions. This article reviews recent studies about metal sulfide precipitation, considering that the most relevant review article on the topic was published in 2010. Thus, our review emphasizes and focuses on the overall process and its main unit operations. This study follows the flow diagram definition, discussing the recent progress in the application of this process on different aqueous matrices to recover/remove diverse metals/metalloids from them, in addition to kinetic reaction and reactor types, different sulfide sources, precipitate behavior, improvements in solid–liquid separation, and future perspectives. The features included in this review are: operational conditions in terms of pH and Eh to perform a selective recovery of different metals contained in an aqueous source, the aggregation/colloidal behavior of precipitates, new materials for controlling sulfide release, and novel solid–liquid separation processes based on membrane filtration. It is therefore relevant that the direct production of nanoparticles (Nps) from this method could potentially become a future research approach with important implications on unit operations, which could possibly expand to several applications.
Highlights
Metal sulfide precipitation is studied because it is a process that is applied to recover or remove metals and metalloids from industrial effluents or hydrometallurgical leachates
The features included in this review are: operational conditions in terms of pH and Eh to perform a selective recovery of different metals contained in an aqueous source, the aggregation/colloidal behavior of precipitates, new materials for controlling sulfide release, and novel solid–liquid separation processes based on membrane filtration
Metal sulfide precipitation is naturally appealing for research, which can include the removal of potentially toxic elements from industrial effluents, such as acid mine drainage (AMD) or copper smelter wastewater, and for recovering valuable metals from leachates of hydrometallurgical plants treating ores, wastes, or tailings
Summary
Metal sulfide precipitation is studied because it is a process that is applied to recover or remove metals and metalloids from industrial effluents or hydrometallurgical leachates. In order to provide a historical perspective on the development of research on the topic, the Scopus (Elsevier) database was used to carry out a scientometric analysis of the literature related to the terms ‘metal sulphide precipitation’ and ‘metal sulfide precipitation’ in the research field topic (date exported: 21 July 2021). These terms were searched as text word in the title, abstract, and/or keywords of the documents.
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