Silica-Based 2-Aminomethylpyridine Functionalized Adsorbent for Hydrometallurgical Extraction of Low-Grade Copper Ore

Abstract

A silica-based 2-aminomethylpyridine functionalized adsorbent was synthesized to extract copper. Characterization of the adsorbent was carried out to determine the surface morphology, specific surface area, pore size, and grafting ratio of 2-aminomethylpyridine groups. The adsorption selectivity of the adsorbent for Cu(II) ions was 1353 times higher than that for Fe(III) ions. The adsorption capacity for Cu(II) ions maintained a stable value of 0.53 mmol/g with and without perturbation of Fe(III) ions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed a mechanism of selective adsorption of copper, through the formation of 2-aminomethylpyridine-Cu(II) complexes. Semi-industrial scale experiments revealed that Cu(II) ions in the acidic leachate of low-grade copper ore could be efficiently extracted by the adsorbent even in perturbation of substantial amounts of Fe(III) and other metal ions. Based on the adsorbent, a new process for copper hydrometallurgical extraction was developed, in which the adverse environmental impacts in traditional solvent extraction processes could be avoided.

Adsorptive Recovery of Cu2+ from Aqueous Solution by Polyethylene Terephthalate Nanofibres Modified with 2-(Aminomethyl)Pyridine

“…This research agrees with the efficient activity of the 2-aminomethylpyridine resin (AMPy) which could only achieve 0.22 mmol/g Cu uptake on its own [29]. Incorporating it into nanofibres significantly improved the Cu 2+ adsorption capacity, which is in agreement with the adsorption capacity achieved using the fixed-bed column adsorption process for the deep removal of Cu 2+ from simulated cobalt electrolyte with polystyrene-supported 2-aminomethylpyridine chelating resin [30].…”

Dual Functional Alginate‐Polyethylene Polyamine Composite Aerogel Toward Sensing and Extracting Copper Ions in Water

“…The experimental results show that as solution concentration increases, the adsorption capacity of Alg‐PEMA for Cu 2+ gradually increases and then reaches saturation. Through calculation, the maximum adsorption capacity of Alg‐PEMA for Cu 2+ is 46.78 mg/g, which is equivalent to that of the reported Cu 2+ ‐adsorbents [14–27] . (Table 2).…”

Recovery of Au(III) by radiation synthesized aminomethyl pyridine functionalized adsorbents based on cellulose

“…It was obvious that the breakthrough of Ni(II) and Cr(III) occurred immediately just after the start of flow, indicating that the adsorbent had no affinity to adsorb Ni(II) and Cr(III). The breakthrough of Cu(II) started at the beginning of flow and reached saturation at 2145 BV, due to the weak chelation interaction between 2-AMPR and Cu(II), identified by Li et al [28]. In the case of Au(III) adsorption, its breakthrough took placed at 4000 BV and complete saturation was received at 15,400 BV.…”

“…Mechanisms such as electrostatic interaction/ion exchange and chelation or combination of both have been proposed for adsorption of precious metal ions on adsorbents functionalized by ligands containing nitrogen and oxygen from HCl media [7,18,19,28,36,37].…”

“…Therefore, selective separation of precious metals from co-exist metal ions becomes an urgent challenge [18]. Based on hard-soft acid-base (HSAB) theory, aminomethylpyridine (AMP) has been considered as a suitable N ligand for gold [19,[28][29][30]. However, to our knowledge, investigations on introducing AMP onto cellulose via radiation method have not been reported.…”