Nickel and Pyrolysis

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NoIdea

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 14, 2011
Messages
602
Location
New Zealand
Afternoon All – So, the other night I was sitting in the shed, puffing my pipe, whist day dreaming into a pile of pyrolized pins, as you do…… and then it hit me, no no no silly not the missus, butt something BETTER 8) , so please bare with me.

Now some of you know of my fondness for the art of pyrolysis, well, I have notice that pins, having gone through the pyrolysis process, and through my basher/smasher/thrasher, the nickel coating is virtually gone, …Why? Why indeedy.

I shall hypothesize.

The pyrolysis of organic material that contain oxygen within its structural matrix, noteworthy printed circuit boards (PCB), in specific, epoxy resins, will invariably produce carbon monoxide as a product gas.

Carbonyls, in specific, transition carbonyls, are produced by the reaction of carbon monoxide, under specific conditions, with a transition metal, and the one im thinking of is nickel. Nickel Carbonyl is a DEADLY POISONOUS GAS, better than cyanide I believe. Here comes the punch-line, if you have not already guessed it.

So here’s what I think. The pyrolysis of PCB produce a bit of carbon monoxide, this in turn reacts with the nickel platted pin, now whether or not the nickel carbonyl decompose straight away, or a little later or leaves with the other product gasses into the flames of hell …. Ok a bit dramatic, butt hey it’s my story, or just as a vapour.

The thing is ….. Firstly, Please don’t sniff your pyrolysis gasses, and secondly this could be perhaps Why the pins are relatively nickel free after pyrolysis, then smashed, bashed, and thrashed. This could also be why we see the pretty green blue flames as we incinerate our material outside at night, as I like to do. So don’t sniff that stuff either.

I have researched, may years ago, the feasibility of using the carbonyl process for the recovery of nickel from e-waste, found it to be far far too deadly to mess with. So I shelved it.

Well what you think??

Cheers

Deano
 
I agree, but if I remember correctly, Carbonyls are produced in a reducing atmosphere. They burn in an oxidizing one, giving off Carbon Dioxide and Nickel Oxide. That process is used commercially to recover Nickel, but, as you said, the stuff is very toxic. Not something to sniff in the Back Yard.
 
If my memory serves well....still you will need to input gas in the combustion chamber(or is it in the afterburner) to keep it in the range of 1100 degrees celsius.........and will be the mix........zinc and tin.....coating your "exaust" so to speak.
So....if you want nickel....would be a much better quantity(35%)....but still hard to get from old NI_MH battery........I have gathered allready more the 50 kilo's and no one has interes in those(old camera accu going bad,old motorola accu pack,drill,electric screw drivers...just few examples)
 
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