Estimation of the fate of gold during waste thermal treatments using thermodynamic equilibrium calculation

Abstract

Metallic resorce recovery from waste thermal treatment processes is drawing attention, and on the precious metals such as gold, several recovery methods such as using sieving of ash or adjusting the thermal treatment conditions have been reported. For further developments, it will be useful to understand the fundamental behaviors of target elements in various conditions and atmospheres. Possible chemical forms of gold during waste thermal treatments are elemental gold or alloy, sulfides, halides, and those dissolved in the molten aluminosilicate stags. It is not much understood how the treatment conditions or gas phase atmospheres affect the vaporization behavior of gold during the waste thermal treatments. In this study, we examined the vaporization behaviors of gold at high temperatures using thermodynamic equilibrium calculation assuming waste thermal treatment conditions.