Precious Metal Refining & Purification System
— Turnkey Precious Metal Refining & Purification System
Product Overview
YuSai’s Precious Metal Refining & Purification System is an integrated metallurgical plant for extracting and purifying noble metals — gold (Au), silver (Ag), and the platinum-group metals (PGMs) platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), ruthenium (Ru), iridium (Ir) and osmium (Os) — from both primary ores/concentrates and, more importantly, secondary “urban ore” feedstocks. The system combines the two proven refining branches used by modern refiners: pyrometallurgy (thermal enrichment, smelting and casting) and hydrometallurgy (acid leaching, solvent extraction, ion exchange, precipitation and electrolytic refining), so a single line can be routed for high-grade jewellery scrap or low-grade e-waste concentrate alike.
At the front end, representative sampling and XRF plus fire assay establish the true metal content and dictate the optimal chemical route. The prepared feed then enters corrosion-resistant titanium or glass-lined dissolution reactors where aqua regia, chloride, nitric-parting or tailored leach chemistries bring the target metals into solution. Pregnant liquor is clarified on filter presses, concentrated by activated carbon and ion-exchange resin, and separated into individual metal streams using P204 / P507 / C272 extractants and selective precipitation. Ultra-high fineness is then locked in by electrolytic refining — Wohlwill cells for gold, Möbius and high-current-density cells for silver, rotating-cathode and HF-pulse electrowinning for PGMs and copper — before induction or vacuum melting casts the powder into marketable bars and granules. A Certificate of Analysis backed by fire assay and ICP-OES closes the loop, while acid-mist and NOₓ scrubbers with a neutralising, closed-loop water system keep the plant inside environmental limits and recover trace metals from bleed streams.
The result is a compact, highly automated, low-loss refinery that turns variable, low-grade secondary material into stable, LME-tradable bullion — engineered for recyclers, refiners, jewellery manufacturers, catholysis plants and mining operations that need dependable purity and maximum value recovery.
Application Scenarios
The system serves any operation that generates, trades or processes precious-metal-bearing material and needs to convert it into saleable, certified metal.
- E-waste & PCB recycling plants — refine gold, silver and palladium recovered from shredded printed circuit boards, connectors and pins. Output: Au/Ag/Pd bullion.
- Precious-metal refineries & assay offices — part, purify and cast doré, dore scrap and customer material to investment grade. Output: 99.99% bars and shot.
- Catalyst reclaim & chemical plants — recover Pt/Pd/Rh from spent palladium-carbon, reforming and petrochemical catalysts. Output: high-purity PGM powder.
- Automotive catalyst processors — extract platinum, palladium and rhodium from three-way catalytic converters. Output: PGM sponge and ingots.
- Electroplating & surface-treatment shops — treat drag-out baths and rinse water on-line and off-line. Output: recovered metal plate/powder plus <10 ppm polish water for recirculation.
- Non-ferrous smelters & copper refineries — process copper and lead anode slime for contained gold and silver. Output: Au/Ag bullion, selenium and tellurium by-products.
- Solar-PV and battery recyclers — recover silver from silicon cells and precious contacts from black mass. Output: silver powder and mixed metal concentrate.
- Gold mining & small-scale concentrators — refine bullion from gravity, cyanidation and loaded-carbon circuits. Output: cast doré and refined gold.
- University, laboratory and pilot operations — bench-scale lines for R&D, teaching and process validation. Output: analytical-grade purified metals.
Applicable Raw Materials
YuSai’s process routing is selected by assay, so the line handles a wide range of feed grades and chemistries.
- Printed circuit boards & e-waste scrap — desktop and mobile boards, RAM/GPU cards, edge connectors, pins, chips and gold-finger scrap. Output: Au / Ag / Pd concentrate.
- Anode slime & smelter intermediates — copper and lead electrolytic anode slime, fume and dust, slag and dross. Output: Au / Ag with Se / Te / Pb by-products.
- Spent precious-metal catalysts — palladium-on-carbon, platinum reforming catalysts, rhodium process catalysts, petrochemical and fine-chem residues. Output: Pt / Pd / Rh powder.
- Automotive three-way catalytic converters — cordierite and metal-substrate monoliths containing Pt, Pd and Rh. Output: PGM sponge / ingot.
- Jewellery, dental & mint scrap — karat gold and sterling-silver scrap, filings, sprue, button, sweeps and refining dust. Output: 99.99% Au / Ag bars.
- Electroplating & process solutions — spent plating baths, drag-out, strip solutions, aged strike tanks and rinses. Output: recovered Au / Ag / Cu / Ni metal.
- Photographic, X-ray & spent-fix streams — silver-bearing fixer, effluent and photographic residue. Output: silver crystals / powder.
- Gold ores, concentrates & loaded carbon — refractory and oxide ores, gravity concentrate, pregnant activated carbon. Output: cast gold doré and refined gold.
- Thermocouple & industrial scrap — platinum-rhodium wire, crucibles, gauze, glass and fibrefrax furnace residues. Output: Pt / Rh metal.
Output Products
Every batch is verified before release and shipped with a Certificate of Analysis.
- Refined gold — Wohlwill electrolytic or chemical-refined Au ≥ 99.99% (99.999% achievable), cast as bullion bars, granules or shot. Output: LBMA-style 99.99 gold bars.
- Refined silver — electrolytic and precipitation-purified Ag ≥ 99.99%, cast into Jingdu-style bars, granules or powder. Output: 99.99 silver bars / shot.
- Platinum & palladium — solvent-extracted and electrowon Pt / Pd ≥ 99.95% sponge, powder or ingot. Output: high-purity PGM powder/ingot.
- Rhodium, ruthenium, iridium — selectively separated and purified Rh ≥ 99.90% (Ru/Ir on request). Output: individual PGM salts / powder.
- Copper cathode — electrowon by-product Cu ≥ 99.99% from base-metal bleed streams. Output: LME-grade cathode copper.
- Selenium, tellurium & minor metals — recovered from anode slime and process residues as saleable by-products. Output: Se / Te / trace-metal concentrate.
- Treated water & cleaned off-gas — neutralised, closed-loop process water and scrubbed exhaust meeting discharge limits. Output: <10 ppm polish water, compliant emission.
Process Workflow
The line is delivered as a staged, closed-loop sequence. Physical/thermal stages upstream are configured only where the feed requires liberation or enrichment; the chemical-to-electrolytic core applies to all precious-metal feedstocks.
Steps 1 — Feed Preparation and Assay. Representative sampling, weighing, crushing, shredding or melting-down, followed by XRF screening and fire assay to fix the true precious-metal content and select the correct reagent route. Output: assay-certified feed and a batch route sheet.
Steps 2 — Dissolution and Leaching. Prepared feed is dissolved in corrosion-resistant titanium or glass-lined reactors using aqua regia, chloride/chlorine, nitric-parting or tailored acid leach chemistries to transfer the target metals into solution while leaving base gangue behind. Output: precious-metal pregnant solution plus leach residue returned to enrichment.
Steps 3 — Concentration and Solid-Liquid Separation. Pregnant liquor is clarified on filter presses, then concentrated through activated carbon and ion-exchange resin columns to raise metal grade and strip value from dilute streams. Output: concentrated noble-metal liquor and treated water to the rinse loop.
Steps 4 — Selective Separation and Purification. Individual metals are split from mixed solution by P204 / P507 / C272 solvent extraction, selective precipitation (e.g. SMBS, ferrous sulphate, oxalic acid) and cementation, isolating gold, silver and each PGM into its own purified stream. Output: single-metal purified solutions and raffinate returned to leaching.
Steps 5 — Electrolytic Refining. Refined fineness is set electrochemically — Wohlwill cells for gold, Möbius / high-current-density cells for silver, and rotating-cathode or HF-pulse electrowinning for PGM and copper — plating ultra-pure metal onto cathodes or into powder. Output: high-purity metal on cathode or precipitate; spent electrolyte recycled to leaching.
Steps 6 — Melting and Casting. Refined powder and cathode scrap are dried, blended with flux, and melted in medium/high-frequency induction furnaces, then poured or vacuum-cast into bars, granules and shot under controlled atmosphere to prevent oxidation and gas loss. Output: cast Au / Ag / PGM bullion ready for assay.
Steps 7 — Assay Verification and Emission Control. Final bars are verified by fire assay and ICP-OES against a Certificate of Analysis, while acid-mist and NOₓ scrubbers and a neutralising closed-loop water system treat all off-gas and effluent and recover trace metals from bleed streams. Output: certified bullion, compliant emission and recycled water.
The main chain runs vertically through dissolution → separation → electrolysis → casting; side branches return raffinate and spent electrolyte to leaching, capture slag and fume dust to enrichment, and route scrubber wash water to the polishing loop for recirculation.
Product Structure (Main Equipment)
The system is supplied as integrated, skid-mounted modules so that each unit operation is factory-assembled, piped and tested before shipment.
- Assay & Sample-Prep Station — XRF analyser, fire-assay furnace, sampling drill/crusher and ICP-OES bench for grade control and final certification. Function: input verification and Certificate of Analysis.
- Mechanical Pre-Treatment — shredder, crusher, granulator and screening plus magnetic/eddy-current separators for e-waste and ore feeds. Function: liberation and concentration where required.
- Thermal Enrichment Furnace — rotary calcination/elimination furnace or melting furnace with flux dosing for anode slime, catalyst and doré feeds. Function: burn-off, slagging and enrichment.
- Dissolution / Leaching Reactors — titanium, glass-lined or PP/FRP vessels rated for aqua regia, chloride and nitric chemistries, with jacketed temperature control and agitation. Function: metal dissolution and leaching.
- Filtration & Solid-Liquid Separation — plate-and-frame filter presses, vacuum disc filters and cartridge polishers. Function: liquor clarification and residue dewatering.
- Extraction & Ion-Exchange Skid — P204 / P507 / C272 mixer-settler banks, activated-carbon columns and ion-exchange resin columns. Function: concentration and selective separation.
- Electrolytic Refining Cells — Wohlwill gold cells, Möbius/horizontal silver cells, rotating-cathode and HF-pulse electrowinning units with high-current-density rectifiers and heated, circulated electrolyte. Function: ultra-high-purity recovery.
- Melting & Casting Unit — medium/high-frequency induction furnaces, vacuum/tilt casting and granulation (atomising) equipment with inert-atmosphere control. Function: bar, shot and granule production.
- Off-Gas & Wastewater Treatment — NOₓ/acid-mist scrubbing (alkali scrubber), condenser and closed-loop neutralisation with sludge press. Function: emission control and water recycle.
- PLC Automation & Control Cabinet — touch-screen HMI, PLC with temperature, voltage, current and bus-bar monitoring, batch logging and interlocks. Function: repeatable, safe, data-logged operation.
Product Features
- Two refining branches, one line. Pyrometallurgical enrichment and hydrometallurgical/electrolytic purification are integrated, so the same plant handles high-grade scrap and low-grade concentrate without re-equipping.
- Corrosion-engineered contact parts. All dissolution and leaching vessels are titanium, glass-lined or PP/FRP — built to survive sustained aqua-regia and chloride service and to avoid metal contamination of the product.
- Closed-loop reagent & water circuit. Raffinate and spent electrolyte return to leaching; scrubber wash water is neutralised and recirculated, cutting reagent make-up, effluent and operating cost.
- Full-spectrum metal recovery. Gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium and iridium, plus copper/selenium by-products, are split into individual high-purity streams rather than a single mixed doré.
- Ultra-high, stable fineness. Electrolytic refining locks product atAu/Ag 99.99% and Pt/Pd ≥ 99.95%, avoiding the grade instability common to chemical-only routes.
- Skid-based, quick to commission. Modular, pre-piped units ship factory-tested, shrink site civils and cut installation time versus stick-built refineries.
- PLC-controlled and data-logged. Temperature, current, voltage and bus-bar monitoring give repeatable batches, low operator dependence and traceable records for assay and audit.
- Environmental compliance by design. Integrated acid-mist/NOₓ scrubbing and closed-loop water keep the plant within EPA and EU discharge limits out of the box.
- Scales lab-to-industrial. Identical process logic from bench and pilot units to full industrial refineries lets clients upgrade without re-inventing the route.
Technical Parameters And Specifications
Values below describe the process envelope and product outcomes; capacity, footprint and utility figures are tailored to each client’s feed assay and throughput and are confirmed at design review.
1. System Scope And Purification Route
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Product | Precious Metal Refining & Purification System |
| Refined gold purity | Au ≥ 99.99% (99.999% achievable) |
| Refined silver purity | Ag ≥ 99.99% |
| Platinum / palladium purity | Pt / Pd ≥ 99.95% |
| Rhodium purity | Rh ≥ 99.90% (Ru / Ir on request) |
| Copper cathode (by-product) | Cu ≥ 99.99% |
| Overall precious-metal recovery | > 95% (up to 99% on suitable PGM feeds) |
| Process routes | Pyrometallurgical + hydrometallurgical (leach / SX / IX / precipitation / electrolysis) |
| Dissolution chemistries | Aqua regia · chloride/chlorine · nitric parting · tailored acid leach |
| Separation reagents | P204 · P507 · C272 extractants; activated carbon; ion-exchange resin |
| Refining cells | Wohlwill (Au) · Möbius / high-current-density (Ag) · rotating-cathode & HF-pulse (PGM/Cu) |
| Contact materials | Titanium · glass-lined steel · PP / FRP |
| Assay & QC | XRF · fire assay · ICP-OES (Certificate of Analysis) |
| Emission control | NOₓ / acid-mist alkali scrubber + closed-loop neutralising water system |
| Automation | PLC + HMI; T / V / I / bus-bar monitoring; batch data logging |
| Feed types | E-waste & PCB · anode slime · spent catalyst · PGM converter scrap · jewellery/dental scrap · plating solutions · ore/concentrate/loaded carbon |
| Configuration scale | Laboratory bench · pilot · industrial turnkey |
| Standards | CE; EU & EPA environmental limits; LME-tradable product |
Technical Advantages
- Certified purity, not just high purity. Because fineness is fixed by electrolytic refining rather than chemical precipitation alone, YuSai lines deliver stable, repeatable 99.99% Au/Ag that holds grade assay-to-assay — the key to premium market pricing.
- Value recovery from low-grade “urban ore”. Modern secondary feedstocks such as spent automotive catalysts carry PGM grades 5–10× richer than platinum ore (~100 g/t), and refined recovery from rich secondary material can reach the high-90s — YuSai’s leach/SX/electrowin chain is tuned to capture that value instead of losing it to slag or tailings.
- Engineered for near-zero loss. Closed-loop electrolyte and raffinate return, low-loss cell design and off-gas/moisture capture keep precious metal — the most expensive thing in the plant — inside the circuit; gold electrolytic losses in modern high-current-density cells are held to a fraction of a percent per cycle.
- Selective multi-metal separation. The P204/P507/C272 solvent-extraction plus ion-exchange and selective-precipitation train splits mixed PGM liquors into individual clean products, so a client refining a single catalyst feed can sell Pt, Pd and Rh separately at full value rather than as one mixed concentrate.
- Safety and compliance built in. Ru/Os oxidative-distillation hazards, NOₓ and acid mist, and cyanide/strong-acid handling are addressed by contained reactors, scrubbing and PLC interlocks — protecting operators and the licence to operate.
- Turnkey accountability. One contractor owns assay, process design, equipment, pipework, commissioning and operator training, removing the integration risk of multi-vendor refineries.
- Proven metallurgical know-how. Each line is specified from real feed assays against a documented process library spanning gold, silver and the full PGM group, so route selection is engineering, not guesswork.
Service Flow
YuSai delivers the system as a full turnkey project, from feed characterisation to a running, certified refinery.
- Steps 1 — Feed Characterisation & Consultation. Send representative samples; our metallurgical team runs XRF and fire assay and defines the optimal process route and target products. Output: assay report and preliminary route proposal.
- Steps 2 — Process Design & Quotation. We prepare the mass balance, flowsheet, equipment list, utility needs and layout for your throughput and site. Output: process design package and firm quotation.
- Steps 3 — Manufacturing & In-Factory Testing. Reactors, cells, extraction skids, furnaces and the scrubber/water plant are fabricated and pre-assembled on skids, then factory acceptance tested. Output: FAT-approved, pre-commissioned modules.
- Steps 4 — Shipping, Installation & Commissioning. We supervise civils interface, erection, piping, electrical tie-in and a full instrumented commissioning run on your feed. Output: a producing line at target purity.
- Steps 5 — Operator Training & Handover. On-site training covers safe operation, reagent handling, assay QC and maintenance, with process documentation and Standard Operating Procedures. Output: trained crew and handover dossier.
- Steps 6 — Ongoing Support & Optimization. Remote troubleshooting, reagent and consumable supply, periodic audits and upgrade paths keep recovery and purity optimal over the plant’s life. Output: sustained performance and spare-part supply.
Warranty & After-Sales Service
- Standard warranty. Twelve (12) months from commissioning (or a documented number of operating hours, whichever is agreed) on all structural, mechanical and electrical equipment against defects in material and workmanship.
- What the warranty covers. Replacement of defective components, main-process equipment repair or exchange, and free remote technical guidance during the warranty period; consumables and damage from misuse, unauthorized modification or out-of-spec operation are excluded.
- Guaranteed performance. YuSai warrants that, when fed material within the agreed assay and throughput envelope and operated to the supplied SOP, the line meets the contracted product purity and recovery figures verified at commissioning.
- Response commitment. Guaranteed remote response within 24 hours; on-site engineer dispatch and hotline support for breakdowns affecting production, with expedited spare-parts supply.
- Spare parts & consumables. Genuine spares, electrodes, membranes, resin, carbon and extractant consumables held as a stocking range to minimise downtime.
- Lifetime technical support. Free access to the engineering team for process questions after warranty expiry, plus optional retrofit, capacity-upgrade and reagent-optimisation services.
- Documentation. Full operating, maintenance and safety manuals, electrical/P&ID drawings and training material are provided with every plant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What purity can a precious metal refining & purification system actually reach?
Gold and silver are refined to 99.99% (99.999% achievable on the Wohlwill/ultra-grade configuration), platinum and palladium to ≥ 99.95%, and rhodium to ≥ 99.90%. Purity is fixed by electrolytic refining, so it is stable batch-to-batch, and every cast product is released with a Certificate of Analysis from fire assay and ICP-OES.
Q2. What raw materials can the system process?
A single line is routed by assay to handle printed-circuit-board and e-waste scrap, copper/lead anode slime, spent Pd/Pt/Rh catalysts, automotive catalytic converters, jewellery and dental scrap, electroplating and strip solutions, photographic/X-ray silver streams, and gold ores, concentrates and loaded carbon. Tell us your feed and we confirm the route.
Q3. Which metals can be separated and recovered?
All of the precious metals — Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, Rh, plus Ru, Ir and Os on request — and valuable by-products such as copper cathode (99.99%), selenium and tellurium. Solvent extraction and ion exchange split a mixed feed into individual clean metal products, not just one doré button.
Q4. What is the overall recovery rate? Designed overall precious-metal recovery is above 95%, with rich secondary feeds such as spent PGM catalysts reaching the high 90s. Closed-loop raffinate and spent-electrolyte return, low-loss cells and off-gas capture are specifically engineered to keep value inside the circuit.
Q5. How long does the electrolytic gold refining cycle take?
Modern high-current-density gold electrolytic cells run a batch in roughly 10–20 hours at 3–4× conventional efficiency with losses held to a fraction of a percent — far faster and more consistent than chemical-only 99.99% routes.
Q6. Is aqua regia the only leaching method?
No. Depending on feed and target metal, YuSai selects aqua regia, chloride/chlorine, nitric parting or tailored acid leach. Reagent choice is made at design stage to optimise selectivity, cost and safety for your specific material.
Q7. How are hazardous fumes and wastewater handled?
Every line ships with an alkali scrubber for NOₓ and acid mist, condensers, and a neutralising closed-loop water system with sludge pressing. Process water is recirculated (polish water <10 ppm) and treated streams meet EPA and EU discharge limits, so the refinery stays compliant and recoverable metals in bleed streams are captured.
Q8. How much floor space and capacity does a line need?
Capacity, footprint and utilities are engineered to your feed assay and throughput. Because the system is skid-based and factory-tested, site civils are minimal and installation is faster than stick-built refineries. We confirm the layout in the design package.
Q9. What is the lead time?
Typical fabrication of the modules plus factory acceptance testing, with shipment, installation and commissioning planned to your project schedule. Exact lead time is quoted with the process design once your feed and capacity are defined.
Q10. Do you provide installation and operator training?
Yes. As a turnkey supplier we supervise erection, piping and electrical tie-in, run full commissioning on your feed, and deliver on-site operator training covering safe operation, reagent handling, assay QC and maintenance, with complete SOPs and documentation.
Q11. How does the warranty work?
Standard 12-month warranty from commissioning covers material and workmanship defects with defective-part replacement and free remote support, plus a guaranteed-performance clause confirming contracted purity and recovery at commissioning. Lifetime technical support and genuine spares continue after warranty.
Q12. How do I get started and receive a quote?
Send representative samples and your target throughput. We run the assay, propose the optimal route, and return a firm quotation with flowsheet, equipment list, layout and pricing — usually the fastest path to a correct, sized system.
Get A Free Quote
Fill in the form below and our service team will get back to you within 24 hours with a recommended process flow and quotation.
- +86 18339216321
- info@yusaipreciousmetals.com
- Zhengzhou.Henan.China
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