Granulated Sorption Material Based on Cellulose for Extracting Silver from Thiocyanate Solutions

Abstract

The ability to apply granulated materials with cellulose as sorbents for silver extraction from thiocyanate solutions in industrial technological schemes is studied. Samples extracted from sulfite unbleached pulp from coniferous wood via preactivation, dilution, chemical modification, and extraction with successive curing of granules formed are studied. The granule surface is shown to possess a developed pore system with diameter of 2–5 μm. The optimum time of silver sorption from a potassium thiocyanate solution by a cellulose-containing sorbent with a weight of 500 ± 2 mg is found to be 120 min. The silver anion complexes can be completely extracted from thiocyanate solutions with a silver content of not higher than 1 g/L. The experimentally evaluated sorption capacity of a cellulose-containing material in relation to silver is 20 mg/g.