Study of the influence of temperature and duration of chlorinating roasting on the extraction of gold from E-waste

Abstract

In this work, based on experimental studies, the effect of roasting temperature and duration on the chlorination of gold from E-waste under low-temperature conditions was studied. It has been established that in the low-temperature range of 150-300 °C, the gold content in the residue shows a sharp decrease, reaching its minimum of 8 ppm at 250 °C. A further increase in temperature does not affect the gold content in the cinder. It has been shown that during chlorinating roasting above a temperature of 250 °C, side reactions should be expected to occur with the formation of additional phases representing chlorides of copper, iron and other elements. The results of SEM and XRD analyzes of the solid phase obtained after chlorinating roasting at a temperature of 250 °C and a roasting duration of 20 minutes showed the presence of copper and iron chlorides in them. Optimal technological parameters and modes of the process of chlorinating roasting of E-waste with gaseous chlorine have been established: temperature – 250 °С; roasting duration – 20 minutes; chlorine consumption is 1.5 times more than the stoichiometrically required amount (SRA) for gold chlorination. Under optimal roasting conditions, a high, up to ~97.6%, recovery of gold in the form of gold chloride (AuCl₃) was achieved. The results of the experiments can be a basic basis and make it possible to conduct more representative experiments (scaling) in the future, taking into account the established optimal technological parameters. This will provide a chance to evaluate the possibility of extracting gold from E-waste of different types and compositions and to conduct further research on obtaining pure gold from the collected representative amount of gold sublimate AuCl₃ by smelting.