| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2021 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
High Temperature Electrochemistry IV
|
| Presentation Title |
Selective Extraction of Gold from Gold-copper Alloy Using Anodic Electrochemical Deposition in Molten Salt Electrolyte |
| Author(s) |
Takanari Ouchi, Shuang Wu, Toru H. Okabe |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Takanari Ouchi |
| Abstract Scope |
The main metal component of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) is copper. In industrial recycling processes of gold from WPCBs, electrorefining in the copper smelting process, or hydrometallurgical leaching process by using cyanide or aqua regia solution, are employed as representative recovery processes. Recycling gold is time-consuming and generates large amounts of hazardous waste. In this study, direct extraction process of gold directly from gold-copper alloy, which is simple and does not generate harmful wastes, was developed. This process is based on the anodic electrochemical deposition of gold from its anionic ions dissolved in a molten salt electrolyte. Gold in copper was alloyed with sodium, and was then dissolved in a molten salt. The electrochemical behaviors of gold anions in the molten salt were investigated to demonstrate that pure gold was selectively obtained via anodic deposition. This result indicate the validity of the developed process to recycle Au from WPCBs. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Electrometallurgy, Recycling and Secondary Recovery, Extraction and Processing |