Interference of coexisting copper and aluminum on the ammonium thiosulfate leaching of gold from printed circuit boards of waste mobile phones

Ammonium thiosulfate solution is an ideal lixiviant to extract gold (Au) from electronic wastes (E-wastes) because it is non-toxic, less corrosive, and more selective than conventional cyanide or halide solutions. It was reported recently, however, that Au leaching efficiency in ammonium thiosulfate medium dramatically decreased at high solid-to-liquid ratios (S/L), even though the amounts of reagents used were in excess. To understand how this occurred, leaching experiments were conducted using printed circuit boards (PCBs) from waste mobile phones, and Au distribution in the leaching residues was examined by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Significant amounts of Au were found together with copper (Cu) and aluminum (Al), implying that extracted Au ions were likely re-deposited during leaching onto Cu and Al found in PCBs via cementation (i.e., reductive deposition). A more detailed elucidation of this phenomenon by cementation experiments using pure Cu and/or Al powders indicates that these metals could only recover Au ions alone via cementation at very high amounts, however, this process became more extensive when Cu and Al powders were suspended together in solution even though the amounts of the individual metals were much lower. Electrochemical experiments (chronoamperometry) in ammonium thiosulfate solutions containing Au ions using an Al working electrode also showed that Au ion cementation was dramatically enhanced when Cu powder was present in solution, and the bulk of Au was cemented on Cu powder rather than on the Al electrode. These results suggest that coexistence of Cu and Al interfered with the extraction of Au in ammonium thiosulfate medium at high S/L because of the enhanced re-deposition of extracted Au via galvanic interaction.