Tank Material Compatibility re: Cyanide Leaching

[snoman701]

Hoping to get Deano's opinion on this.

In one of his posts, he alluded to teflon tape being attacked in cyanide recovery, as you can't use it to tie the carbon felt on to the PVC.

So, from that statement, I'll assume PVC is a somewhat acceptable material.

What other materials are incompatible with the cyanide process (potassium ferro-) on both the leach side and electrowinning or zinc powder drop based recovery? I plan to use mostly glassware, but would like to set up a pumped cell at some point. I know that traditionally, wood and iron (or steel) were used to make the leaching pits. And from one of his posts, it appears that simple polyethylene sheet is used for a leaching pit (but looks can be deceiving).

 

[Deano]

Teflon is the main material not used in cyanide circuits apart from the obvious materials such as zinc coatings.

Most common plastics are OK up to pH 12, PVC and PE are the common liners used based on price.

Some pump brands have seals which are not happy in pH 12 liquors, many manufacturers of various equipment make note of pH restrictions applying to their lines. They do not want you to use an inappropriate part and then go around telling people how bad their stuff is.

Deano

 

[snoman701]

Thanks Deano!