If I have a solution of gold chloride, is there a was I can grow metalic gold crystals to recover the gold instead of using sulfer dioxide to drop the gold as poeder?

Answer 1

I don't think so. Au is quite insoluble in water so it isn't possible to crystallize it from solution. You might grow crystals of AuCl3 or some other gold salt but not Au itself. With some experimentation you may find a way to reduce gold in the salt to larger pieces of gold. You might also look into plating the gold out of solution by electrolysis. When one thinks of electrolysis one usually thinks of electroplating nice layers of the metal onto a substrate; often, however, it doesn't happen that way. Often one gets, instead, crystals plating out. That might be worth a try.