Research Institute for Marine Resources Utilization, Submarine Resources Research Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan.
School of Engineering, Frontier Research Center for Energy and Resources, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2024 Mar 8;14(1):5739. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-56263-3.
Gold (Au), as one of the most precious metal resources that is used for both industrial products and private ornaments, is a global investment target, and mining companies are making huge investments to discover new Au deposits. Here, we report in situ Au adsorption in an acidic hot spring by a unique adsorption sheet made from blue-green algae with a high preferential adsorption ability for Au. The results of in situ Au adsorption experiments conducted for various reaction times ranging from 0.2 h to 7 months showed that a maximum Au concentration of 30 ppm was adsorbed onto the blue-green algal sheet after a reaction time of 7 months. The Au concentration in the hot spring water was below the detection limit (< 1 ppt); therefore, Au was enriched by preferential adsorption onto the blue-green algal sheet by a factor of more than ~ 3 × 10. Thus, our gold recovery method has a high potential to recover Au even from an Au-poor solution such as hot spring water or mine wastewater with a low impact on the environment.
金（Au）是一种用于工业产品和私人首饰的最珍贵金属资源之一，是全球投资目标，矿业公司正在进行巨额投资以发现新的 Au 矿床。在这里，我们报告了由蓝藻制成的独特吸附片在酸性热泉中对 Au 的原位吸附，该吸附片具有对 Au 的高优先吸附能力。对各种反应时间（从 0.2 小时到 7 个月）进行的原位 Au 吸附实验的结果表明，在反应时间为 7 个月后，蓝藻片上吸附了最大 30 ppm 的 Au 浓度。温泉水中的 Au 浓度低于检测限（<1 ppt）；因此，Au 通过优先吸附到蓝藻片上而被富集了超过~3×10 的倍数。因此，我们的金回收方法即使从 Au 贫溶液（如温泉水或矿山废水）中回收 Au 也具有很高的潜力，对环境的影响很小。
