Electrolytic recovery of gold from aqueous solutions

Abstract Electrolysis of metal ions in dilute solutions using vertical planar electrodes results in low recovery. Therefore, an electrolytic cell arranged concentrically with extended cathode surface areas was designed to improve the rate of mass transfer. Three types of gold solutions obtained from industrial sites were used. Despite an initial gold level of 110 mg l −1 , the electrolytic cell was effective in reducing the gold concentration to as low as 0.1 mg l −1 .