Magnetic Activated Carbon Particles for Gold Recovery, Water Treatment and other Applications

This invention describes the process of mixing a magnetic material homogeneously with an activated carbon material. Activated carbon is commonly used to remove a number of materials from liquids and gases, for recovery of values or for purification. The magnetic carbon from this invention is of fine particle size that has improved kinetic properties and adsorbs larger amounts of material per unit mass of carbon.

Benefits
Activated carbon finds use in the extractive metallurgy of gold. In 1999, the amount of activated carbon purchased for gold recovery in the US and the rest of the world was estimated to be 4000 and 7000 metric tons respectively, which represents sales on the order of $8 million and $14 million respectively. Activated carbon has been recommended by the EPA as one of the best available technologies for water and wastewater treatment. Activated carbon is also used in the food, automotive, chemicals, and pharmaceutical industries.

Stage of Development
International publication (World Intellectual Property Organization): WO 2003/049491 A3. This technology has been demonstrated to work in proof-of-concept experiments. It is available for developmental research support/licensing under either exclusive or non-exclusive terms.

Additional Info
*Munoz, G. A., Duyvesteyn, S, Miller, J. D. The effect of pore size distribution on gold adsorption by magnetic activated carbons. Proceedings of the TMS Fall Extraction and Processing Conference, 1, 2003, 701-710
*Adams, J. D., Diaz. X., Mankhand, T. R., Miller, J. D., Pennington, P., Chatwin, T. Arsenic removal from contaminated waters. JOM, 56 (11), 2004, 165.

Inventor(s): Jan Miller, Saskia Duyvesteyn, Gustavo Munoz

Type of Offer: Licensing



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