Selective Recovery of Precious Metals from Acidic Leach Liquor of Circuit Boards of Spent Mobile Phones Using Chemically Modified Persimmon Tannin Gel

A tannin-based novel adsorbent, named “BTU-PT gel”, was prepared by immobilizing bisthiourea (BTU) ligand on persimmon tannin (PT) extract. The adsorption behaviors of precious metal ions along with other coexisting base metal ions onto BTU-PT gel were studied by batch and continuous column methods. The gel exhibited remarkable selectivity for precious metal ions such as Au(III), Pd(II), and Pt(IV) over base metal ions such as Cu(II), Fe(III), Ni(II), and Zn(II) in 1–5 mol dm–³ hydrochloric acid. The adsorption of precious metal ions on the present gel was found to obey the typical monolayer type of Langmuir model, and the maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent was evaluated as 5.18 mol kg–¹ for Au(III), 1.80 mol kg–¹ for Pd(II), and 0.67 mol kg–¹ for Pt(IV). Combination of ion exchange, electrostatic interaction, and coordination through the thiocarbonyl group is the mechanism of adsorption of precious metals on BTU-PT gel. In the case of Au(III) adsorption, the adsorbed species was simultaneously reduced to elemental gold by abundant polyphenolic groups of the tannin matrix. Elution by using acidothiourea solution in continuous column experiment recovered the adsorbed precious metals almost quantitatively. The results of a potential reusability test of the gel for consecutive adsorption and elution cycles by continuous column experiment indicated that the gel was stable and regenerated with undiminished metal uptake capacity up to five cycles. The real time applicability of the adsorbent for the recovery of precious metals from real industrial liquor was evaluated from actual acidic leach liquor of printed circuit boards of spent mobile phones. The gel selectively adsorbed precious metal species but exhibited negligible affinity toward base metals present in the leach liquor. The BTU-PT gel is a potential adsorbent for selective recovery of precious metals from acidic leachate of spent mobile phones containing elevated concentrations of base metals.