# Cell Phone Boards



## kuma (Oct 30, 2011)

Hello all , how are things today ?
I hope that all is well!
Sorry , just a brief one if I may. I have just been looking (again! :mrgreen: ) through the *Gallery* , and I came across a post that got me thinking (http://tinyurl.com/69qrdjr).
In it , *Silver Fox* says that he managed to revover 1.5 grams of gold from 15 cell phone boards.
Looking at the type and age of phones that he mentioned processing , would it be anywhere near fair to say that this could be regarded as an average kind of yield for 15 or so phones from around this time?
I know that it seems a lot like wishfull thinking (most probably because it is , :lol: ) , but I have a stack of old mobile phones up-stairs that apart from the one or two that I've pulled apart (just for a look-see) , I've largly ignored due to the fact that time and time again I see that unless you are processing loads they arn't really worth the time and effort , compared to higher grade scrap anyway.
I'd be more than happy if I could extract one gram from 50 cell boards , :mrgreen: 
I just wandered if anybody had a take on this.
All the best and kind regards everybody ,
Chris


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## kuma (Oct 30, 2011)

I'm sorry guy's , I kind of jumped ahead of myself and fired off a question without doing the reading thing , I think I found what I'm looking for with the infamous search function! :roll: 
Looks like they could be another interesting project at some point , :mrgreen: 
I'm sorry for wasting time and space!  
All the best everyone , and kind regards ,
Chris


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## philddreamer (Oct 30, 2011)

Chris don't feel bad! 
It can work for the best; first, another testimony that the search box should be the first place to visit for an answer to a particular question.
Second, just state the question you had, & the posting where you found it when you did your search; & then add the posting here. 
That way, another person searching information on "Cell Phone Boards" & lands here, will know exactlly where to search, & all thanks to you, mi amigo! 8) 

Take care!

Phil


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## samuel-a (Oct 30, 2011)

Hi chris

In my mind, cell phone boards are high enough to run even in small batches, the older the better.
I have prepared this batch (70 units) and it is ready for inciniration.




I have approx 100 more unit of the same model, still haven't decided which route would i choose, probably smelt 'em...


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## kuma (Oct 30, 2011)

Hi guy's , how are tricks ?
I hope all is well!  



philddreamer said:


> Chris don't feel bad!
> It can work for the best; first, another testimony that the search box should be the first place to visit for an answer to a particular question.
> Second, just state the question you had, & the posting where you found it when you did your search; & then add the posting here.
> That way, another person searching information on "Cell Phone Boards" & lands here, will know exactlly where to search, & all thanks to you, mi amigo! 8)
> ...



Yeah , I kinda did feel a bit naughty , I read a post and dived straight in with a question all enthusiastic like , lol's  
It did actualy cross my mind to share a link in my second post to the information that I found concerning my question , but by the time I had decided I had *learnt* what I was trying to find out , I was many pages past it.
I'm going to do the right thing now and find it again so I can fix this , :lol: 



samuel-a said:


> Hi chris
> 
> In my mind, cell phone boards are high enough to run even in small batches, the older the better.
> I have prepared this batch (70 units) and it is ready for inciniration.
> ...



That's good to know , like I mentioned I have a load that have been sitting in a dusty box for about three years waiting to go to recycling , I havn't been too fussed with them for pm recovery (only a consideration since June this year) , preffering to focus on fingers and pins for now , but with what I've read and with what you tell me , I might just recycle them myself! :mrgreen: 
I can usualy pick up more old(ish) unworking ones for free , though for reasons mentioned I've not been picking them up , that's going to change! 8) 
Many thanks guy's!
All the best and kind regards ,
Chris


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## kuma (Oct 30, 2011)

Hello again!
When I was searching ''cell phone yields'' I came across a link that has been posted here several times already , but just incase here it is again ;

http://tinyurl.com/66vlomh

It lists the metal contents of your "typical" mobile phone , including various p.m. contents (gold , silver , platinum ect.) , and it was this list , aswell as some other posts on the forum , that has helped me to decide that it is worth a shot processing these after all.
For someone like me who is just looking to extract and refine the odd gram or two (for now at least), the thought of having to process maybe hundreds of cell boards just to make a small *shiney* was a bit off-putting.
I know that the figures given in the link are very much so ball-park figures , but as it says that there is 0.035 grams AU in a typical cell phone , that means that I would only need around 30 phones to extract 1 gram of gold , that's way less than I had imagined I would need to process to extract that small amount.
I will try to find some more of the posts that I came across during my search and post links here , but for now , here it's 1:35 a.m. and the kids are back to school in the morning , I really should rest my eyes and get some sleep! :| :mrgreen: 
All the best for now everybody , and have a good morning / afternoon / evening / night wherever you are!
Sending my kindest regards ,
Chris


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## sena (Oct 30, 2011)

samuel-a said:


> Hi chris
> 
> In my mind, cell phone boards are high enough to run even in small batches, the older the better.
> I have prepared this batch (70 units) and it is ready for inciniration.
> ...



hi samuel , how do you prefer to depopulate these boards?


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## samuel-a (Oct 31, 2011)

sena said:


> hi samuel , how do you prefer to depopulate these boards?


My kid sister... (does that count as a tool? :mrgreen: )


I just let her remove whatever is easy to remove... like all of the plated connections pins and points of contact. And seperating them to "clean metal" and "with plastic". I'll process them separately.
the rest is left on the board.


(Sorry kuma, didn't meant to hideject your thread)


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## texan (Oct 31, 2011)

The visable gold in/on a cell phone is just the low hanging fruit. Check some of my posts from 2 years ago or so and see some of the goodies that are hidden away in the chips. Each type of component is due its own type of recovery process. Incineration is a messy inefficient process.

Texan


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## Harold_V (Oct 31, 2011)

texan said:


> Incineration is a messy inefficient process.


That's a pretty broad, bold statement, one that may or may not be true in all cases. Certainly, for those that deal with escrap by the ton, it isn't. What would be inneficient would be cleaning the boards, and sorting the components. Hardly necessary when everything can be incinerated and processed by furnace. 

Harold


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## texan (Oct 31, 2011)

Harold...Your prescribed incineration process has it's use. But I doubt that many on this forum have the proper equipment and training to properly do a bulk smelting/incineration of cell phones or other similar PCB material. I would think that with out the ability to produce the proper amout of heat in a furnace you would end up with a carbonized mess with a fair amount of values going with the wind. If someone has the industrial facility to process material by the ton such as I understand the Japanese are doing then go for it. I am doing this as a hobby and I get a great kick out of sorting my little cell phone components and then trying to determine the best process for each component to obtain the best percentage of recovered PM's.

Texan


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## Harold_V (Oct 31, 2011)

Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant. Incineration has its place---and should not be labeled as inefficient, not without conditions, which I tried to provide. 

Broad statements like that tend to sink in and be taken literally---even applied across the board---so incineration may be ignored when it is a necessity. Just trying to keep a sense of balance for readers, so they don't get the wrong message. 

Harold


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## samuel-a (Oct 31, 2011)

texan said:


> Harold...Your prescribed incineration process has it's use. But I doubt that many on this forum have the proper equipment and training to properly do a bulk smelting/incineration of cell phones or other similar PCB material. I would think that with out the ability to produce the proper amout of heat in a furnace you would end up with a carbonized mess with a fair amount of values going with the wind. If someone has the industrial facility to process material by the ton such as I understand the Japanese are doing then go for it. I am doing this as a hobby and I get a great kick out of sorting my little cell phone components and then trying to determine the best process for each component to obtain the best percentage of recovered PM's.
> 
> Texan



Well said texan.

I'm aware of the pros and cons of inciniration and smelting small lots and how things can go wrong if any of them is done improperly.
With that said, i'm also looking into a possibility of grinding to high mesh and leach consecutively for BM's and PM's, this process to, has it own flaws and positive points. As i said before, in case of cellphons boards, i do think it could be done, even profitably.


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## kuma (Oct 31, 2011)

Hi all! How are things today ?
I hope all is well! :mrgreen: 



samuel-a said:


> And seperating them to "clean metal" and "with plastic". I'll process them separately.



I only fairly recently discovered that you could process some of the parts while still encapsulated in plastic , I wish I had have looked into this one a while ago , I have nearly a big baby food jar full of the small plated pins from motherboards , and I picked every one off individualy by hand!
I'd start by carefully levering off the plastic housing with two screwdrivers , carefull not to scratch or damage the pins , then I'd bend each pin over once or twice with a precision screwdriver (wrapped in insulation tape , again to try and aviod scratching or damaging the plated surface) to weaken them at the bottom , then I'd finish them off by just bending them back and forth until they snapped off.
I new that I was loosing some values still in the board , but in all fairness , this method has given me really nice clean material to work with , and it kep me out of trouble for a while! :mrgreen: 
Also , my thumb and fore-fingers are rock hard now! :lol: 



samuel-a said:


> (Sorry kuma, didn't meant to hideject your thread)



That's crazy talk , it's the community's thread! :mrgreen: 
While were on it sorry , just to confirm in my mind with regards to depopulating cell boards , the old *heat with a torch and bang in a bucket* trick , then maybe followed by a brief wash in hcl (before moving on to AP) to eliminate any solder that may be left on the board , is that a way to go for a noob like me?
Many thanks again all , 
Sending my best wishes and kind regards ,
Chris


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## Geo (Oct 31, 2011)

not sure how effecient it is but i toss a batch in some old AP solution when i get enough to process and let the acid sort it out.once all the base metal is dissolved i put the whole batch(boards and plastic and any solids) into hcl/cl.i get a somewhat dirty solution but easy enough to work with and then sort chips for later processing.


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## kuma (Oct 31, 2011)

Thanks for the reply and the idea Geo!
That's one of the things that I like about all of this , there's lot's of different ways of doing lot's of different things , you never seem stuck for options! 8) 
Thanks once again , 
All the best and kind regards ,
Chris :mrgreen:


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## Jmosp (Nov 27, 2011)

Hello All 

What PM's do the screens of cell phones have?


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## kuma (Nov 27, 2011)

Hello chief and welcome to the forum! :mrgreen: 



Jmosp said:


> Hello All
> 
> What PM's do the screens of cell phones have?



I'm a noob at this so someone with experience might chime in , but as far as I know there are no PM's in the actual cell phone screens.
I have looked into other types of screens , and all I have been able to find out is that there is some silver in plasma screens , up to an ounce or more.
This requires crushing the glass and performing a chemical leach on the crushed material , which is obviously hazardous and should only be attempted when your are very familiar with the processes , the chemicals , and the obvious potential health risks.
I don't know your level of skill , but it might be worth pointing out that I have been studying and reading just about every post on this forum (and C.M. Hokes book of course! 8) ) for five months and I still havn't attempted any of the chemical processes discussed here , some have been studying for well over a year and still havn't.
Good luck with it , stay safe , and keep us posted! 
Wishing you all the best and sending my kind regards ,
Chris


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## kuma (Nov 27, 2011)

Hello again all!
It didn't cross my mind just before for some reason , but with regards to the extraction of silver from plasma screens , I came across this PDF a while ago which I thought was an interesting read ;

View attachment Extraction Of Silver From Flatscreen Monitors.pdf


I hope that it can be of some use , or at least be as interesting a read for others as it was for me! :mrgreen: 
All the best and kind regards ,
Chris


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