Abstract

QUINDE-ALVEAR, Ángel. Application of a tower packed as a chimney gas purifier in the mining industry of El Oro, cantón Ponce Enríquez, Ecuador. RCTU [online]. 2018, vol.5, n.2, pp.30-36. ISSN 1390-7697.  https://doi.org/10.26423/rctu.v5i2.345..

Gold mining has been an important source of income for the provinces of southern Ecuador such as Azuay, El Oro, Loja, Zamora Chinchipe and others. The extraction groups use mercury (Hg) for the process of separating gold from rocks. Mercury is known as a highly toxic metal. In mining, one of the main forms of exposure to mercury is through inhaling vapors liberated by incinerators in the process of gold extraction. These vapors also produce environmental contamination in the surrounding communities. For this reason, the research was carried out in the mining company Austro Gold Com. Ltda., located in the province of Azuay, Ponce Enriquez town, Villa Rica parish, where a packed tower was built and used as a method to reduce gas emissions and mercury vapors in the chimney. An experimental methodology was applied, in which 3 samples from two measurements points from the packed tower were taken; one on the entrance chute and another on the gas exit chute, while three different operation conditions were tested. The results showed that the 95% of the vapors produced in the process were retained. Packed towers turned out to be a good alternative for gas and vapor absorption produced when burning amalgam.

Keywords : packed; tower; gold; mining; mercury; gases.

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