Bioleached Tellurium Speciation

Tellurium is a metal critical to development of Cadmium-Telluride Solar Panels, but is exceedingly rare in Earth's Crust (~1 ppb). Tellurium can be bioleached from mine tailings, particularly copper and gold, and understanding Te's speciation in these aqueous solutions is important for downstream processes. Previous experimentation found that a Tellurium speciation assay utilizing Ammonium pyrrolidyldithiocarbamate (APDC) is effective in clean solutions, but less effective in complex solutions containing high concentrations of other metals. In this study, I show that Te speciation assays with APDC can be hindered by competing metals in solution, which can preferentially chelate with APDC prior to tellurium.