Gold recovery from the residue of jewelry waste recycling: pre-treatment using shaking table separation and flotation

Abstract

Gold is one of the precious metals used all over the world. It is used in various ways, such as in electrical and electronic equipment, as well as in jewelry. Gold is constantly depleted, so recycling is a very important process for recovering valuable materials as secondary raw materials. In this study, the residue from a jewelry waste recycling process was used. Shaking table separation and flotation as the pre-treatment before the hydrometallurgical processes were investigated. For shaking table experiments, the effects of table angle and water flow rate were investigated and a batch-type mechanical flotation was used for the flotation experiment. The results showed that for the shaking table separation, gold recoveries were high, while the purity of gold was higher, with lower recovery.