# Precipitating gold from muratic/clorox



## cableman (Jan 6, 2014)

I have followed Steve's videos about removing the gold foils from memory chips and circuit board ends. I cut all the board correctly and mixed my muriatic and peroxide correctly and now have a good many foils in my bucket. I am hesitant however to do my final wash until I am sure I know how to precipitate the gold from the muriatic/Clorox solution. I understand the process perfectly since I have watched the video many times but at the end after he dissolves the foils, all he says is "to let it sit overnight for the chlorine to dissipate before precipitating with smb".
I have lost gold before with my cpu's when doing the process wrong and I don't want to lose this batch. If I let it sit overnight will it be ready to precipitate with smb as it is or do I need to so something else to the liquid before trying to precipitate? Thanks for any advice. I tried to look for the answer but the only posts on the subject got technical and way off subject.


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## stardust18 (Jan 6, 2014)

Hey. You can follow the instructions Steve, but you can just heat up the solution, the solubility of chlorine with increasing temperature plummets.
Further convenient deposition method.
!! On heating the chlorine solution will be allocated in the form of gas pretty intense. POISON!


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## butcher (Jan 6, 2014)

Normally sitting a day in the hot sunshine will do the trick if you did not use too much bleach, but if you added a little more sodium hypochlorite, or the weather is cold, sitting over night may not gas off the chlorine from solution, a little heat will help to remove excess chlorine from the solution.


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## cableman (Jan 7, 2014)

Thanks for the reply guys. I lost my first batch of gold and I had some good cpu's so I don't want to lose this one. I will be careful of the fumes if I heat up. Thanks for the warning even though I make it a general rule not to go sniffing on anything.


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## nickvc (Jan 7, 2014)

cableman said:


> Thanks for the reply guys. I lost my first batch of gold and I had some good cpu's so I don't want to lose this one. I will be careful of the fumes if I heat up. Thanks for the warning even though I make it a general rule not to go sniffing on anything.



Make it simple and either do it ouside and don't be downwind or use a fume hood....those fumes are extremely dangerous!


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## rickbb (Jan 7, 2014)

When you heat it, it does not have to be boiling hot, just good and warm to slightly hot.


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## artart47 (Jan 7, 2014)

Hi there Cableman!
First! You diden't loose your other gold as long as you diden't throw away the solution. It's still there!
Your foils. Gather them from the bucket, rinse them and then give them a boil in alittle HCl cuz, there may still be alittle copper and/or nickel on them that may interfere with dropping with smb later. the HCl may change color to a green if there were base metals. If the foils are clean, the acid will remain clear. When I get ready to disolve the foils I clean the beaker and then I pour a little distilled water into it in order to rinse out the tap water so there will be no lime spots on the glass. If your gold is free of base metals,your glass is clean and you don't use too much SMB your gold should drop like a rock!
Good luck! artart47
Edit; I forgot... I heat the solution for a while to get the chlorine out and then after it cools, I pour it from one clean beaker to another,back and forth till I don't smell any chlorine then I let it sit awile before dropping.


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## Pantherlikher (Jan 8, 2014)

Since this was my first summer at what I was doing, I had trouble dropping gold from HCL+ bleach... Trouble was I get impatient. 
The longest I've waited was 2 weeks but that was because I used way to much bleach and it was cool for that time. Heat and stir will take care of that.

No ballz, no glory...so go for it.

B.S.


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## Palladium (Mar 1, 2014)

I've often wanted to use hcl and sodium percarbonate ( Oxy clean ) to try and dissolve gold. From what i understand the chemical make up contains 20-30% H2O2 and can be gased off by heating just like with the hcl clorox method.


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## goldsilverpro (Mar 1, 2014)

Sounds promising, Ralph.


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## Palladium (Mar 2, 2014)

I've got some around here somewhere. Think i might dissolve some powders with it and shot a video for it just for giggles. You can buy like 2lbs at Dollar General for a couple of bucks.


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## goldsilverpro (Mar 2, 2014)

I found several widely different formulations (from MSDS) for both Oxiclean and Oxyclean. One contains no percarbonate but it has KOH + NaOH at 15-40% and hypochlorite at 10-30%. I doubt if you want that. Buy the right one.


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## Irons (Mar 2, 2014)

goldsilverpro said:


> I found several widely different formulations (from MSDS) for both Oxiclean and Oxyclean. One contains no percarbonate but it has KOH + NaOH at 15-40% and hypochlorite at 10-30%. I doubt if you want that. Buy the right one.



Sodium Percarbonate is very Basic, so it's going to use-up a lot of HCL. The local supermarket has been selling Non-Chlorine Bleach which turns out to be Hydrogen Peroxide. It's pretty potent. I figure at least 20%, and for $2.19 for a half Gallon, the price is right.


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## bmgold2 (Mar 2, 2014)

Irons said:


> goldsilverpro said:
> 
> 
> > I found several widely different formulations (from MSDS) for both Oxiclean and Oxyclean. One contains no percarbonate but it has KOH + NaOH at 15-40% and hypochlorite at 10-30%. I doubt if you want that. Buy the right one.
> ...



I just looked at two jars of this stuff in the laundry room, Clorox Oxi Magic and Oxi Clean Versatile Stain Remover and both contained Sodium Percarbonate and Sodium Carbonate. Just check to bottle before buying any for this use (if anyone tries it).


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## Palladium (Mar 2, 2014)

From what i understand it forms cl gas in solution just like hcl/cl does. Am i reading the reaction right? I'm not one of those equation types.


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## Irons (Mar 2, 2014)

Palladium said:


> From what i understand it forms cl gas in solution just like hcl/cl does. Am i reading the reaction right? I'm not one of those equation types.




If you're referring to Sodium Percarbonate; it releases Oxygen in the form of Hydrogen Peroxide.

Sodium percarbonate is a chemical, an adduct of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide (a perhydrate), with formula 2Na2CO3 · 3H2O2. It is a colorless, crystalline, hygroscopic and water-soluble solid.[1] It is used in some eco-friendly cleaning products and as a laboratory source of anhydrous hydrogen peroxide.

This product contains the carbonate anion, and should not be confused with sodium peroxocarbonate Na2CO4 or peroxodicarbonate Na2C2O6, which contain different anions.




Sodium percarbonate is produced industrially by reaction of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide, followed by crystallization. Also, dry sodium carbonate may be treated directly with concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution. World production capacity of this compound was estimated at several hundred thousand tonnes for 2004.[3] It can be obtained in the laboratory by treating the two substances in aqueous solution with proper control of the pH[4] or concentrations.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_percarbonate


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## lazersteve (Mar 6, 2014)

If you are looking to eliminate bleach from the process, just use 5%-35% hydrogen peroxide. There are many other ways to produce chlorine, in situ with Hydrochloric acid, I prefer using 35% peroxide. This reagent has no spectator ions that lead to salt formation like the sodium bonded oxidizers.

A very ancient way (circa 1774) to form Chlorine gas is to use Manganese dioxide with HCl.

Steve


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## butcher (Mar 6, 2014)

Carbonates and oxides of many base metals are insoluble.

Although many of these carbonates will react with acids to form salts of the metal and acid used, water and CO2, example: Cu(CO3) + 2HCl --> CuCl2 + CO2 + H2O, but many of these carbonates and sometimes oxides (depending on the metal involved) can be difficult to dissolve even with acids.

With the fact also that adding basic sodium per-carbonate neutralizes the acid in solution, adds another powder possible contaminate, I have not tried to use it to try and dissolve my gold into solution, from its ability to form H2O2, and thus create chlorine in solution with the acids.
35% H2O2, or liquid sodium hypochlorite, just seem to be a better method.


I have not tried to generate chlorine in situ (from the production of H2O2 upon reduction sodium per-carbonate) with HCl , and with the purpose to react with gold.

But I have used it in reactions of roasting or fusion to help in the oxidation process of base metals, my reasoning here was when going from a fusion to a roasting (incineration) then to a melting process from the fusion process, I have some soda ash in the powders from the previous fusion/roasting (oxidation process), with the oxidation in the fusion assisted by the excess oxygen generated in the fusion, the bubbling action also helps if proceeding from a fusion to a roasting or incineration heating (although crushing and exposing powders to red heat in air (oxygen) with good stirring is still used.

In the fusion, the reaction does become vigorous.


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## sharkhook (Mar 6, 2014)

lazersteve said:


> If you are looking to eliminate bleach from the process, just use 5%-35% hydrogen peroxide. There are many other ways to produce chlorine, in situ with Hydrochloric acid, I prefer using 35% peroxide. This reagent has no spectator ions that lead to salt formation like the sodium bonded oxidizers.
> 
> A very ancient way (circa 1774) to form Chlorine gas is to use Manganese dioxide with HCl.
> 
> Steve



That sounds interesting. I am waiting for the chlorine to dissipate from a solution now, my first. Maybe we can hear more about that process sometime. I can think of many questions about the use of the hydrogen peroxide for this, but will do a bit of reading before asking any of them.


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## joubjonn (Mar 6, 2014)

my first A/R drop, when I didn't know any better (thanks to the forum I do now) I used baking soda to neutralize the little bit of extra nitric. it did work, but only because I got lucky. I wouldn't recommend it.


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