Carat gold refining with electricity

[Oneofthree]

G'day. I'm new to this forum. I spent some time looking through the posts and couldn't find what I am looking for. I am a jeweler and I did quite a bit of silver refining few decades ago and some gold refining with aqua regia and sodium metabisulfite. Finally I gave my gold scraps to my neighbor who did an excellent job. Sometimes, when I came too early to pick up my gold, he was still scraping it from a white color (stainless steel? titanium?) metal plate size of the pack of cigarettes. It was obvious that he used some kind of electro-deposition. He would not have a conversation what process did he use. I do casting of PM for the jewelery industry and I want to refine the spills, small particles from sink trap and the main reason: my "tired" white carat gold. High quality casting requires adding freshly mixed gold at the 50-80% of the new material depending on the manufacturer. The process I am using leaves me with large amount of material once the product is cut off. The main components of the white alloys are gold ( 41.7 , 58.5 and 75%), nickel, copper, zink, sometimes silver and proprietary additives like silicon, manganese and antioxidants etc. I have means of inquarting with copper or silver and creating a plate of needed dimensions. I also have rectifier with adjustable voltage. All I am missing is the "know how ". I would really appreciate pointing me to posts or any other sources of the information and any hands-on experience advice. Thank you in advance. Best regards.
Oneofthree

 

[Lino1406]

In principle, gold is the last to electroplate from all said metals. Hence what is needed a bath, electrolyte and cathode, e.g. Titanium or stainless . The gold will remain or fall in the anode basket. Then starting with a low voltage and watch results. Note: electrolysis is a slow process and seems AR refining fits more

 

[justinhcase]

Electro-winning is very good for turning fine gold into very fine gold.
But as with all such methods, the more impurities in your feed stock, the less practical a process it becomes.
Maintaining a good electrolyte and the amount of work you are willing to invest in that activity compared to other more economical options.
As a rule, it is a good idea to refine your anode material as much as you can before running it through an electric cell.

 

[Oneofthree]

Thank you for taking your time to reply.
My reason for posting was I don't have means at the workplace to contain the fumes associated with AR process. My exhaust is connected the building ventilation system and the fan is immediately over my hood. Strong corrosive fumes are no-no in my environment. Hence wondering about the electricity solutions. With my limited understanding the fumes would be less aggressive. I am open-minded to any suggestions. Also the composition of the metals to be refined are quite uniform.
Again any advice will be deeply appreciated.

 

[Palladium]

Thank you for taking your time to reply.
My reason for posting was I don't have means at the workplace to contain the fumes associated with AR process. My exhaust is connected the building ventilation system and the fan is immediately over my hood. Strong corrosive fumes are no-no in my environment. Hence wondering about the electricity solutions. With my limited understanding the fumes would be less aggressive. I am open-minded to any suggestions. Also the composition of the metals to be refined are quite uniform.
Again any advice will be deeply appreciated.

Water, salt, graphite cathode, 0.5 Micron barrier!

$20 to get it up and running!
https://patents.justia.com/patent/4612093

I need to get off my **** and do a video about this. I shot half the video's before.... I just haven't finished and posted them!

 

[Oneofthree]

Good day.

Finally my fizzer cell is running.
Ceramic filter 0.2 / 0.5 micron.
Polyethylene felt bag 1 micron.
Anode: 6.5 oz of approximately 15k mostly white gold.
Graphite cathode.
About 12A
Hot saturated solution of NaCl in distilled water with few drops of hydrogen peroxide.
Did I miss anything?
Cheers

 

[g_axelsson]

Interesting! Let us know how it works.

Where did you find the ceramic filter?

Göran

 

[Palladium]

Looks good sir. Take some more pictures and post them when you get time.
Keep us updated as to your progress! Very nice!

 

[withers.elijah]

Would this be an efficient process for refining 90-97% pure placer gold? Is there a resource with more detail about how to set this type of a system up?

 

[speed]

Any more info on how this process works exactly?