Preliminary Study on Gold Recovery from High Grade E-Waste by Thiourea Leaching and Electrowinning

Abstract

The present paper is focused on the extraction of gold from high-grade e-waste, i.e., spent electronic connectors and plates, by leaching and electrowinning. These connectors are usually made up of an alloy covered by a layer of gold; sometimes, in some of them, a plastic part is also present. The applied leaching system consisted of an acid solution of diluted sulfuric acid (0.2 mol/L) with thiourea (20 g/L) as a reagent and ferric sulfate (21.8 g/L) as an oxidant. This system was applied on three different high-grade e-waste, namely: (1) Connectors with the partial gold-plated surface (Au concentration—1139 mg/kg); (2) different types of connectors with some of which with completely gold-plated surface (Au concentration—590 mg/kg); and (3) connectors and plates with the completely gold-plated surface (Au concentration—7900 mg/kg). Gold dissolution yields of 52, 94, and 49% were achieved from the first, second, and third samples, respectively. About 95% of Au recovery was achieved after 1.5 h of electrowinning at a current efficiency of only 4.06% and current consumption of 3.02 kWh/kg of Au from the leach solution of the third sample.