# Says Virgin Sulphuric Acid on the bottle, but...



## seedspots (Oct 9, 2011)

Hi everyone.... thanks for all the help. To my very first post on any forum EVER....
Ive built a cell following Lazersteves videos, etc and had a hard time finding the acid needed to run it. (im in california) After looking @ home depot, lowes, safeway, CVS, I came across a drain opener at SMART and FINAL that says it is Virgin Sulphuric Acid. Problem is it does not look like anything Ive seen in the videos or described here. Its dark gray almost black in color straight from the bottle, cant even see through it at all.
Its brand is Lighting something, (white yellow bottle inside a bag)sorry dont have it in front of me.... is this what Im supposed to be using???


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## Geo (Oct 9, 2011)

ive used it before. it should work just fine. i cant recall the exact name but its sold here at Lowes. 1 quart white plastic bottle in a clear plastic bag.


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## butcher (Oct 9, 2011)

That sounds like concentrated sulfuric acid.

get the MSDS, from store or on the web, it will give details you need.

if it is sulfuric acid you could measure specific gravity to determine water content.

is it liquid lightning?

concentrated sulfuric with some buffers can look blackish.

get details from bottle name Baume, and other details someone here can help better.


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## Geo (Oct 9, 2011)

ahh. you beat me to it.yes, liquid lightning. i had to go look at the bottle. :lol:


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## seedspots (Oct 10, 2011)

seedspots said:


> Hi everyone.... thanks for all the help. To my very first post on any forum EVER....
> Ive built a cell following Lazersteves videos, etc and had a hard time finding the acid needed to run it. (im in california) After looking @ home depot, lowes, safeway, CVS, I came across a drain opener at SMART and FINAL that says it is Virgin Sulphuric Acid. Problem is it does not look like anything Ive seen in the videos or described here. Its dark gray almost black in color straight from the bottle, cant even see through it at all.
> Its brand is Lighting something, (white yellow bottle inside a bag)sorry dont have it in front of me.... is this what Im supposed to be using???



OK Liquid Lightning. yesThats the name of it, thanks for the replies everyone. It seems to have worked just fine but...
More help please..
The cell stopped working , and assuming it was full, I poured off most of the acid for reuse, filtered the particles out, diluted the remaining liquid and black powder with water numerous times. Now I have about an inch or so of very black powder or sand on the bottom of a container with almost clear water, and Im sure, a tiny bit of sulphuric acid still remaining. 
I believe next is to Drop with SMB???
Whatdoes it mean to drop?
Im confused by this terminollogy and also obviously confused by the spelling of terminollogy.ha ha
thanks everybody.


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## nickvc (Oct 10, 2011)

Seedspots I'm sorry but you need to cap your container and do a lot of research, reading here on the forum. Start with C.M.Hoke and also read the forum handbooks and very importantly the safety section here on the forum.
The chemicals you are using and will use are very dangerous and it appears you have no idea of what your doing and I and I'm sure no one else wants to see you hurt.
The sulphuric cell is a recovery method not a refining one, what you have recovered will be a mixture of gold and various base metals that will need further treatment and refining to get you fine gold. The sulphuric you used is very dangerous and needs treating with extreme care, if you get it on your skin you will find out what I mean! 
While your studying you can still collect material and even use your cell to concentrate your values but please take my advice and do your homework before you even refine a gram and even more importantly be very careful.


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## joem (Oct 10, 2011)

There has been a lot of talk about how sulphuric acid can react with water in the skin, I'm not sure new people understand how bad this can be ( myself included) so I decided to post a very graphic picture to help.
Sorry if this disturbs you.


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## nickvc (Oct 10, 2011)

Joem that's extremely shocking.... but I agree noobies need to be aware how dangerous the chemicals we all use are, hence the stress on doing the necessary reading and a visit to the safety section. I have some lovely scars on my back from my days of running my own refinery where the nitric pump swung round onto my back, unknown to me at the time, it didn't take too long before I knew something was amiss  

BEWARE OF ALL CHEMICALS AND READ AND STUDY BEFORE ANY RECOVERY OR REFINING!


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## kuma (Oct 11, 2011)

:shock:


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## goldsilverpro (Feb 21, 2012)

seedspots said:


> seedspots said:
> 
> 
> > Hi everyone.... thanks for all the help. To my very first post on any forum EVER....
> ...



I may be wrong but, it sounds like you got it too hot and now there's a lot of other junk with the gold - copper, etc. I would try hard to keep the temperature below about 110F (43C). The more amps you use, the hotter it will get. I would guess that the best maximum amperage would be about 5-10 amps per gallon (4 liters) of sulfuric.


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## jmdlcar (May 31, 2012)

ls Liquid lightning a brand you should not use? If not what brand should I use? I'm going to try and buy a 32oz bottle when I get my check first of the month.


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## jimdoc (May 31, 2012)

jmdlcar said:


> ls Liquid lightning a brand you should not use? If not what brand should I use? I'm going to try and buy a 32oz bottle when I get my check first of the month.



Look for Rooto if you can find it.

Jim


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## jmdlcar (May 31, 2012)

Ace hardware sell it it in my town but I would have 4 bottle at a time. I would like to use liquid lightning cause I can get it at Wal-Mart. If it is one not to use I'll to look a little harder.


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## jimdoc (May 31, 2012)

jmdlcar said:


> Ace hardware sell it it in my town but I would have 4 bottle at a time. I would like to use liquid lightning cause I can get it at Wal-Mart. If it is one not to use I'll to look a little harder.



I seem to remember someone saying Liquid Lightning caused some foaming, maybe because of some additives. I have a bottle but never tried it because I got Rooto instead. Liquid Lightning should work if that is all you can find.

Jim


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## Geo (May 31, 2012)

i dont think liquid lightning contains sulfuric acid. i did a web search, and all i could find on the same name is it contains hcl. be sure it says concentrated sulfuric acid.


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## jmdlcar (May 31, 2012)

The bottle seen said Virgin Sulphuric Acid and I seen 96%


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## Geo (May 31, 2012)

then it should work ok.


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## butcher (May 31, 2012)

Liquid lightning seems to be a common name for acids I have seen sulfuric acid and hydrochloric with the name liquid lightning, I am not sure if it is the company name or what they call the acids check label and MSDS.


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## jmdlcar (May 31, 2012)

They have both one with sulfuric acid and one with hydrochloric. My Wal-Mart use to sell both the hydrochloric they quit selling cause the company quit making it. I think Liquid Lightning is the name of the company.


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## louis488 (Jun 11, 2012)

I have used the liquid lightning it was very dark in color and very foamy when items were placed in the cell. It also took a long time for the gold to settle. I am going to try to find some thing else. I did have a lot of copper in the powder but some of it might have been because I was processing a lot of plated jewelry.


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## philddreamer (Jul 18, 2012)

I have always used Liquid Fire with good results; then again, I've never been able to find another brand. :mrgreen: 
I'm filtering half a gallon right now!

Phil

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YGGoN6UnT4&feature=plcp[/youtube]


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## tek4g63 (Jul 26, 2012)

I set up my cell yesterday, have not powered it on yet though. I bought the liquid lighting from Walmart too. I looked up the MSDS by the web site listed on the bottle I believe, or maybe I Google searched it. But what I found says that it is only something like 60% sulfuric acid. ( sorry I don't have my notes in front of me ). This could be why some people are having too much copper going into the acid. If too much water is present in the cell it will get hot fast. 

I put my liquid lighting in my crock pot, out in my shed, set it on high for 3 days . When it finally stopped heavily steaming and forming bubbles I shut it off, let it cool, and checked the specific gravity. According to notes I found on here it looks like I now have something like 85% sulfuric acid.

Will 85% be OK for my cell?

Thad


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## Palladium (Jul 26, 2012)

You need to concentrate it more. Sulfuric acid is very hygroscopic and loves to hold on to water. You did have enough heat to drive the process past 85%. Heat it up more with a hotter heat source and the water will come off.


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## tek4g63 (Jul 27, 2012)

Thank you palladium!

I thought that might be the case. I'll get setup to crank the heat up. I'll try and set it just above the boiling point of water, but not hot enough to boil the sulfuric acid.

So the buffers in this acid that make it black in color shouldn't cause me too much trouble?

I will try and find another source of sulfuric acid that is clear, but in the mean time I want to use what I have to test my cell and learn with


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## Geo (Jul 27, 2012)

if you get it hot enough to to boil the concentrated sulfuric (i dont recommend that you do as sulfuric vapors are released) the impurities will settle when cool and leave the solution a thick light golden color like honey.


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## Palladium (Jul 27, 2012)

Last time i bought mine it came from NAPPA auto parts and cost $25 i think for 5 gallons.

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx?R=NBE9000_0006559869


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## Geo (Jul 27, 2012)

got mine from O'reilly"s auto parts for $26 for 5 gallons. it renders down 6 quarts of good concentrated sulfuric acid.


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