# Mud turns to blue solution after ammonia rinse



## jobforce (Apr 10, 2011)

After precipitating with SMB, I got a nice mud brown mud quickly settled to bottom. Poured off acid, and then poured in Ammonia to rise mud in bottom. Immediately, solution turned all blue and started to fume thick wit seeming to redissolve and disappear into Ammonia solution. Not sure what to do next. I have a blue solution with no mud. Any advice would be appreciated. I put this batch to the side to start the next batch. Poured off acid and the picture is what I have left. Thinking I should skip the Ammonia rinse and do water instead then dry mud.


----------



## qst42know (Apr 10, 2011)

Don't dry ammonia solutions, explosive metal compounds can be formed. Acidify with hydrochloric acid. And then explain what you did to get to this point.


----------



## jobforce (Apr 11, 2011)

Using the instructions that came with AR from ishor, they instructed me to rinse the mud with a gallon of ammonia after the precipitation. I followed their instructions to the letter up to that point. After much reading on the forum and watching videos, I'll be using LazerSteves method from now on. I won't heat the blue solution thanks to your advice. It turned blue after the drop, following ishor's directions, I started to rinse the mud with ammonia and it turned dark blue.


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 11, 2011)

jobforce said:


> Using the instructions that came with AR from ishor, they instructed me to rinse the mud with a gallon of ammonia after the precipitation. I followed their instructions to the letter up to that point. After much reading on the forum and watching videos, I'll be using LazerSteves method from now on. I won't heat the blue solution thanks to your advice. It turned blue after the drop, following ishor's directions, I started to rinse the mud with ammonia and it turned dark blue.



Rule #1, don't listen to Ishore.


----------



## qst42know (Apr 11, 2011)

What did you start with. How much of what type scrap?

Copper turns blue in ammonia.


----------



## jobforce (Apr 14, 2011)

I started with 400 grams of fingers segregated from e-waste. I'll upload a photo of the brown mud and what it looked like before we added the ammonia. Here is the photo of the mud.


----------



## qst42know (Apr 14, 2011)

What were the ingredients used to dissolve and the quantities of each. 

Was there any metal left undissolved.

And then, what amount of precipitant.


----------



## jobforce (Apr 15, 2011)

I started with 400 grams of fingers, and pins segregated from scsi servers and placed them inside a plastic mesh net. I used a plastic bucket (seen in the photo) and then measured and poured in 1.2 gallon of muriatic acid. I then added one pound of subzero. I let this sit for a few days until all the metal was dissolved. The result was an emerald dark green mixture that was clear. Added urea until fizzing stopped. I then divided solution into two buckets evenly (bucket A & Bucket B). I then measured out approximately 1.5 tablespoons of Storm precipitant 6 times and placed this amount into each container (total of two).

Both were green colored with mud at the bottom. I poured off the green solution from both buckets into an empty collection bucket leaving the mud in the bottom of both buckets (A & B). Into bucket A, I poured a gallon of ammonia which immediately turned blue, and it appears that all the mud has redissolved into the solution. This is what is seen in the photo.

Into bucket B, I poured 1 gallon of tap water and let it sit for one day, and then a poured off the water leaving the mud at the bottom which I then poured into a pyrex cup. This is what is seen in the photo.

Reading the forum, and listening to members advice has really made me decide not to use ammonia for any reason other than household cleaning from now on. I'm just a hobbyist. Don't want to make this my last hobby.

This whole process has been going on for about a week, completely outdoors. Still, I just want to make sure that there is not a time limit on this. In other words, is there any reason for safety concern letting the solutions sit while I read and study? What would be the advice to proceed next? iShor has been helpful to an extent that they are selling merchandise. But I can't help but notice that iShor's methods are significantly different than those recommended by the forum. What would forum members recommend next for the mud? What would you recommend for the blue solution? Also, can I add baking soda to any of the solutions to neutralize them? Thanks for all your help!


----------



## qst42know (Apr 15, 2011)

Do you still have the solution you dissolved in?

As a guess I think if you combine your solutions all of it together you will be able to cement your values on a large chunk of copper. Your valuable metals will report to the bottom. Once cemented on copper you can pour off the solution wash the remains with water and set it aside till you have time to study.

Any of the chemists here know if 1.5 gallon of used HCL/sodium nitrate will reverse the alkalinity of 1 gallon of household ammonia?


----------



## lazersteve (Apr 15, 2011)

32% HCl is around 10 M (moles per liter) while 3-5% NH4OH is around 2.5 M (moles per liter).

In layman's terms you can neutralize 4 liters of household ammonia with a little more than 1 liter of 32% HCl.

10 M / 2.5 M = 4

HCl + NH4OH --> NH4Cl + H2O

Steve


----------



## jobforce (Apr 18, 2011)

Thanks for the help! 8)


----------

