Mechanisms of gold recovery from aqueous solutions using a novel tannin gel adsorbent synthesized from natural condensed tannin

We report a novel recovery system for gold (Au), which is one of the precious metals contained in electronic scrap, utilizing tannin gel particles. Tannin gel particles were prepared by a process of cross-linking of condensed tannin (wattle tannin), which is a ubiquitous and inexpensive natural material having many hydroxyl groups. The adsorption mechanism of gold onto tannin gel particles was elucidated: the adsorption of gold takes place through the reduction of trivalent gold ions to metallic gold on the surface of tannin gel particles, which is accompanied by the simultaneous oxidization of the hydroxyl groups of tannin gel. Additionally, the adsorption capacity of gold was found to be extremely high, 8000 mg-Au/g-dry gel. The outstanding characteristics of tannin gel particles for gold offers the possibility of efficient recovery of other precious metals.