Recovery of gold from aqua regia digested electronic scrap using a poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene) (PVDF-HFP) based polymer inclusion membrane (PIM) containing Cyphos® IL 104

Abstract

A PIM of composition 30 wt% Cyphos® IL 104 and 70 wt% poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene) (PVDF-HFP) is described for the separation of Au(III) from its HCl solutions and from a solution obtained by the digestion of electronic scrap in aqua regia. This PIM has a high stability in acidic solutions such that no dilution of the digested aqua regia is necessary. Au(III) is back-extracted from the PIM using 0.50 mol L-1 Na2SO3. The stoichiometry of the extracted Au(III) ion-pair and the mechanism of back-extraction are discussed.Transport studies using the proposed PIM with an electronic scrap solution in aqua regia as the feed solution and 0.50 mol L-1 Na2SO3 solution as the receiving..