Sustainable fabrication of gold adsorbents from poly(vinyl chloride) waste plastics

With the growing global demand for gold (Au), significant efforts have been made to develop adsorbents for Au recovery. However, most conventional Au adsorbents are fabricated from petroleum-based polymers, resulting in waste generation and a high carbon footprint. Therefore, the development of sustainable Au adsorbents remains an important goal. In this study, waste poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) was converted into adsorptive porous beads for Au recovery. The resulting beads exhibited selective Au adsorption in both simulated and real-world leachate solutions. Furthermore, their Au adsorption capacities exceeded those of many reported Au adsorbents. The adsorption mechanism was elucidated through characterization studies. In addition, adsorbents prepared from various commercial PVC waste plastics also achieved effective Au recovery from real-world leachates. This study presents a sustainable strategy for converting PVC waste plastics into high-performance Au adsorbents.