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kic209

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Jan 25, 2010
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Could somebody please help me on the correct and most efficient way to extract gold from Sulfuric Acid?
 
kic209:
Sulphuric acid does not dissolve gold so there is no way to extract gold from sulphuric acid.

Anyway,you can separate gold fron other metals with sulphuric acid,e.g. an alloy of silver and gold could be separate using hot concentrated sulphuric acid because it dissolves silver then gold remains.

As you can see in this Forum,nitric acid is prefered to do this kind of job.There is a cell that uses sulphuric acid to recover gold from gold plated items.Can you tell us what exactly are you trying to do?

Best regards.

Manuel
 
I extracted the plated gold from CPU parts using stainless as a cathode and the CPU parts as the anode, in sulphuric acid. Which when put a current to the sulphuric becomes persulphuric which I think gold is solutuable in. Ive exctracted the gold from the CPU parts and have a goldish sulphuric solution now.
 
There will be zero gold dissolved in the sulfuric acid. All the gold will be a powder floating around or settled on the bottom. The gold only dissolves for about a micro-second. It is then immediately reduced to a powder. Don't worry about the chemistry of this - I don't think anyone really knows if that's exactly what happens, anyhow. Just be concerned with the results.
 
kic209,
Easiest way to see what to do would be watch Lazer Steve's video on the sulphuric cell. Seeing is better than reading.
In the cell the gold doesn't go into solution. It is filtered out of the solution as a fine black looking powder. Watch the video and see if that doesn't clear up your question.
Here is a link to his site if you need it;

http://www.goldrecovery.us/

Also how many CPUs did you do?

Jim
 
Im sure the gold has dissolved off the CPUs cause you can see where it has just left the copper and my once clear solution is now gold in color. I tried filtering it through coffee filters and then letting the coffee filters dry and i have a black tar looking substance? This process is kinda new for me so thank you for the help so far.
 
Can you post any pictures? I don't know why the acid would look gold in color. Mine has always got very dark.
 
Im sure the gold has dissolved off the CPUs cause you can see where it has just left the copper and my once clear solution is now gold in color. I tried filtering it through coffee filters and then letting the coffee filters dry and i have a black tar looking substance? This process is kinda new for me so thank you for the help so far.
Unless you have some chlorides or other halides in there, no gold will be dissolved in the sulfuric, period - no argument. The black "tar", or slime, is the gold and, probably, other solids mixed in. It's actually a very fine powder. That's why it looks black to your eyes. Often, once all the black gold slime is removed or settled, the solution will take on an amber color, but not because it contains gold.

I'm curious about the filtering. What strength sulfuric did you start with? If you try to filter strong sulfuric, it will immediately eat the filter paper. I have to assume you diluted the sulfuric considerably before filtering, yet you didn't mention that. If you didn't have to dilute it, that means your sulfuric was way too weak to start with. Did you dilute it?
 
Hey Steve,
I just finnished my tumbler yesterday. I loaded it with 4 pounds of military grade pins from a tank line. After 4 hours my lead cathode is covered with tan to light brown silt. I cleaned some off an it goes back to working just fine but when it builds up again it slows terribly. Is this normal?
 
I've seen that before and think it is a base metal compound or one of the additives in some of the drain opener acids (if you are not using boiled down battery acid), but I can't be sure.

When it happens to me it's usually the first time I use a new cathode.

After cleaning the cathode one time it doesn't reoccur to me.

Steve
 
Is there any particular method of cleaning I should use? Stainless brush, tooth brush, or just keep scraping it on the tumbler basket?
 
I spray mine off into a separate container and wipe the excess water off of the cathode before putting it back in the acid.

Steve
 
Well I think that Ive sucessfully finished the 1st stage. I was able to achieve a pretty "clean" pull of the just the gold from CPU parts. There of course prolly some impurities but point being my technique worked. (I have a couple of pictures but dont know how to post them on here). So basically I think what I have is a solution of gold (un-plated from CPU parts) and sulfuric acid. Have a couple of ideas how to seperate the gold from the sulfuric but not sure which one would be the easiest to try. Little new at the gold stuff, but really starting to take a liking to it...THanks before for any advice, from what I keep reading on here you guys really know you stuff...
 
Did you watch any of steve's video's ? You don't have to seperate the gold from the sulfuric acid because it is in the bottom of the vessel. It's that gray black powder that's a pain in the ass to filter. If you watch the vid's on Steve's site it will answer all you questions. Sounds like your getting there though. 8)
 
Thats the thing though, there isnt any black powder stuff at the bottom. Take a look a the pictures and tell me what you think
 

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Here is another angle...any suggestions on the next step? WHat about something like the Wohlwill Process?
 

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There is something important for you to understand. Please take this in the spirit in which it is offered.

It is not possible for gold to be in solution in sulfuric acid. Even in a stripping cell, the only reason gold dissolves is because the current in the near proximity of the anode converts the sulfuric acid to persulfuric acid, which can dissolve gold. As the dissolved gold migrates away from the anode (the part being stripped), the persulfuric acid reverts back to sulfuric acid, precipitating any gold that is held in solution. Therefore, you can expect to recover nothing from the solution aside from solid particulate matter.

There may be a slight chance that you have enough nitrates and chlorides present to dissolve some gold, but if you do have some in solution, a test with stannous chloride would be conclusive. Judging by the color of the solution shown in your pictures, even if that were the case, if you had more than a couple grains, I'd be surprised.

Your next move is to strip more gold, not to keep trying to recover something that doesn't exist.

Harold
 
Sir I am quite aware of the sulfuric and persulfuric acid concept, obvioulsy I had to get passed that equation in my formula to end up and this point in the first place. So if you intent is to lecture you prolly shouldnt waste your time. Now if you possibly feel like maybe offering a solution or an idea, now that would be jus great. And I can pretty much gurantee I have more that just a couple of grains. But thanks for the assement.

It should be noted that smart responses like this generally result in the reader being ignored by everyone. You came here seeking knowledge, but it's obvious that what you are looking for is validation of a stupid concept. That isn't going to happen. Not now, not tomorrow. You may have burned your bridges with your smarter than thou attitude.

Harold
 
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