Alternative Silver Production by Environmental Sound Processing of a Sulfo Salt Silver Mineral Found in Bolivia

Very often, the production of silver causes devastating environmental issues, because of the use of toxic reagents like cyanide and mercury. Due to severe environmental damage caused by humans in the last decades, the social awareness regarding the sustainable production processes is on the rise. Te...

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Main Authors: Alexander Birich, Bernd Friedrich, Lars Gronen, Janet Katzmarzyk, Ivan Silin, Hermann Wotruba
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-02-01
Series:Metals
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/8/2/114
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author Alexander Birich
Bernd Friedrich
Lars Gronen
Janet Katzmarzyk
Ivan Silin
Hermann Wotruba
author_facet Alexander Birich
Bernd Friedrich
Lars Gronen
Janet Katzmarzyk
Ivan Silin
Hermann Wotruba
author_sort Alexander Birich
collection DOAJ
description Very often, the production of silver causes devastating environmental issues, because of the use of toxic reagents like cyanide and mercury. Due to severe environmental damage caused by humans in the last decades, the social awareness regarding the sustainable production processes is on the rise. Terms like “sustainable” and “green” in product descriptions are becoming more and more popular and producers are forced to satisfy the rising environmental awareness of their customers. Within this work, an alternative environmental sound silver recovery process was developed for a vein type silver ore from Mina Porka, Bolivia. A foregoing characterization of the input material reveals its mineral composition. In the following mineral processing, around 92.9% silver was concentrated by separating 59.5 wt. % of non-silver minerals. Nitric acid leaching of the generated concentrate enabled a silver recovery of up to 98%. The dissolved silver was then separated via copper cementation to generate a metallic silver product of >99% purity. Summarizing all process steps, a silver yield of 87% was achieved in lab scale. A final upscaling trial was conducted to prove the process’ robustness. Within this trial, almost 4 kg of metallic silver with a purity of higher than 99.5 wt. % was produced.
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spelling doaj.art-12c8de9d26194d0b8ad0b8be9c869d812022-12-21T19:19:52ZengMDPI AGMetals2075-47012018-02-018211410.3390/met8020114met8020114Alternative Silver Production by Environmental Sound Processing of a Sulfo Salt Silver Mineral Found in BoliviaAlexander Birich0Bernd Friedrich1Lars Gronen2Janet Katzmarzyk3Ivan Silin4Hermann Wotruba5Institute of Process Metallurgy and Metal Recycling, RWTH-Aachen University, Intzestr. 3, 52056 Aachen, GermanyInstitute of Process Metallurgy and Metal Recycling, RWTH-Aachen University, Intzestr. 3, 52056 Aachen, GermanyInstitute of Applied Mineralogy and Economic Geology, RWTH-Aachen University, Wüllnerstr. 2, D-52062 Aachen, GermanyUnit of Mineral Processing, RWTH Aachen University, Lochnerstr. 4-20, D-52064 Aachen, GermanyUnit of Mineral Processing, RWTH Aachen University, Lochnerstr. 4-20, D-52064 Aachen, GermanyUnit of Mineral Processing, RWTH Aachen University, Lochnerstr. 4-20, D-52064 Aachen, GermanyVery often, the production of silver causes devastating environmental issues, because of the use of toxic reagents like cyanide and mercury. Due to severe environmental damage caused by humans in the last decades, the social awareness regarding the sustainable production processes is on the rise. Terms like “sustainable” and “green” in product descriptions are becoming more and more popular and producers are forced to satisfy the rising environmental awareness of their customers. Within this work, an alternative environmental sound silver recovery process was developed for a vein type silver ore from Mina Porka, Bolivia. A foregoing characterization of the input material reveals its mineral composition. In the following mineral processing, around 92.9% silver was concentrated by separating 59.5 wt. % of non-silver minerals. Nitric acid leaching of the generated concentrate enabled a silver recovery of up to 98%. The dissolved silver was then separated via copper cementation to generate a metallic silver product of >99% purity. Summarizing all process steps, a silver yield of 87% was achieved in lab scale. A final upscaling trial was conducted to prove the process’ robustness. Within this trial, almost 4 kg of metallic silver with a purity of higher than 99.5 wt. % was produced.http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/8/2/114green silversustainable productionQEMSCANflotationcyanide free
spellingShingle Alexander Birich
Bernd Friedrich
Lars Gronen
Janet Katzmarzyk
Ivan Silin
Hermann Wotruba
Alternative Silver Production by Environmental Sound Processing of a Sulfo Salt Silver Mineral Found in Bolivia
Metals
green silver
sustainable production
QEMSCAN
flotation
cyanide free
title Alternative Silver Production by Environmental Sound Processing of a Sulfo Salt Silver Mineral Found in Bolivia
title_full Alternative Silver Production by Environmental Sound Processing of a Sulfo Salt Silver Mineral Found in Bolivia
title_fullStr Alternative Silver Production by Environmental Sound Processing of a Sulfo Salt Silver Mineral Found in Bolivia
title_full_unstemmed Alternative Silver Production by Environmental Sound Processing of a Sulfo Salt Silver Mineral Found in Bolivia
title_short Alternative Silver Production by Environmental Sound Processing of a Sulfo Salt Silver Mineral Found in Bolivia
title_sort alternative silver production by environmental sound processing of a sulfo salt silver mineral found in bolivia
topic green silver
sustainable production
QEMSCAN
flotation
cyanide free
url http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/8/2/114
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