Recycle of gold mine tailings slurry into MCM-41 mesoporous silica with high specific surface area

In this study, MCM-41 was prepared from the gold mine tailings slurry as an alternative silica source. The effects of the reaction time, temperature, and pH adjustments on the synthesis of MCM-41 were investigated. The optimum condition for the synthesis process of pure and highly ordered MCM-41 from tailings slurry was found to be at 30°C for 60 min with a pH of 11. In addition, MCM-41 was synthesized from a pure silica source, in order to compare the structural properties of the obtained sample from that of the slurry produced at optimum conditions. The samples synthesized from tailings slurry had a high surface area of 983 m2/g and a pore volume of 0.74 cm3/g. The structural properties of the samples produced from the slurry were closely related with those that were synthesized from a pure silica source. Results indicate that the tailings slurry has the potential to be used as a cheap, alternative silica source which can be used for the synthesis of a pure and ordered mesoporous silica MCM-41