Can gold-plated jewelry be recycled? What is the difference between gold jewelry and gold jewelry

Besides gold accessories, gold-plated jewelry is no exception. Because both gold and gilding have their own advantages, although gold has a relatively high purity, it is not suitable for some complex and delicate accessories. Gold plating, on the other hand, uses surface electroplating on the composition of alloys to present a sparkling effect, making gold-plated jewelry more exquisite and versatile, small and exquisite, meeting the fashion needs of young girls.


The price of gold-plated jewelry will not be too high, and it is within the affordable range of the general public. Even if a new style is worn every once in a while, there will not be any pressure. But over time, the accumulation of gold-plated jewelry will become more and more, and these styles that are no longer liked are useless to keep. So many girls have a question, can gold-plated jewelry be recycled? So we can retrieve a portion of the funds.

Actually, gold-plated jewelry can also be recycled, but the price for recycling is very low, which is not acceptable to most people. After all, gold-plated jewelry also ranges from a few hundred to several thousand yuan, and recycling can only cost between a few yuan and a few tens of yuan, without producing the expected value, so few people go to recycle gold-plated jewelry. Of course, if it is necessary to recycle, there are also people who specialize in recycling such products.

Why is the price of gold plating recycling so low? The recycling price of gold-plated jewelry is really surprising. Those gold-plated jewelry that you consider precious are actually worthless. In fact, jewelry recycling usually involves precious metals, and gold plating does not belong to precious metals, as its gold content is very low. Moreover, after recycling, a professional separation method is required to extract the gold from it, which incurs significant labor costs. Therefore, the final gold plating recovery price will be relatively low.

To separate the gold component from gold-plated jewelry, electrolysis is generally chosen. Using slotted and sealed electrolysis equipment, two electrodes are inserted into the gold containing waste liquid. After being energized, ionization reactions occur near the anode, causing the gold to dissociate and move towards the cathode, thereby decomposing the gold component.

1、 Electrolytic method

Both slotted and sealed electrolysis equipment can be used. The principle is to insert two electrodes into the gold containing waste liquid, and after being electrified, an ionization reaction occurs near the anode, causing the gold to dissociate and move towards the cathode.

2、 Slotted electrolysis method
Heat the waste liquid in the container to 90 degrees, then use a stainless steel plate as a tap and control the voltage between 5-6 pairs for electrolysis. After the gold content in the solution drops to a certain level, it can be exchanged for new waste liquid for electrolysis. After the gold on the cathode settles to a certain thickness, it can be brushed off.

3、 Substitution method
This method can treat gold containing electroplating solution and rinsing water, of course, the gold containing waste liquid needs to be acidified at a pH value between 1-2. Then dilute it five times with distilled water, no need to dilute the rinsing water, and replace it with zinc wire until the reaction is complete. The gold powder can be cleaned, acid treated, dried, and melted into ingots.

It can be seen that after recycling, gold-plated jewelry needs to undergo a relatively complicated process in order to be reused. And the extracted gold content will not be too high. But gold jewelry is different. Gold jewelry is made of pure gold and only needs to be remelted and processed to create new jewelry. Moreover, the gold content is relatively high, so the recycling price of gold will be relatively higher.