# question about cpu capacitors



## shyknee (Apr 27, 2010)

I've collected these little metallic foils from removing solder from cpus (various types)

my question is are these foils palladium only or are they something else , they did not dissolve in cold AP 

they are from surface mount capacitors on cpus

other question is this amount worth processing or just wait for more ?


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## samuel-a (Apr 27, 2010)

it can take up to a week...
check this thread:
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=6341


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## patnor1011 (Apr 27, 2010)

I had lots of them mixed with foils after I put green fiber cpus into AP. they are say 1x2mm and white/grey coloured. Have no idea what they are but there was fair amount of them. They are still in jar in HCl mixed with foils. They are there about 3 weeks now. I have feeling that they are slowly dissolving but will need more time to confirm this.


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## shyknee (Apr 27, 2010)

Samuel-a thanks for the link

did you look close they are clean foils there is little bits of gold and stuff .

I'm wondering if the foils are tantalum if it is i will not bother with this stuff.

it is mostly from cpus (green fiber intel and brown fiber amd )

I would like to try the Pd process but need to know if i can use potassium chlorate instead of sodium chlorate to drop Pd


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## shyknee (Apr 28, 2010)

patnor1011 
if you have the time could you do a stannous test on Hcl and let us know what happened

thanks
I was hopping Steve would know and chime in


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## Barren Realms 007 (Apr 28, 2010)

shyknee said:


> patnor1011
> if you have the time could you do a stannous test on Hcl and let us know what happened
> 
> thanks
> I was hopping Steve would know and chime in






samuel-a said:


> it can take up to a week...
> check this thread:
> http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=6341



The thread that samual-a posted was a good thread on this and gave the information that would be necessary to process this batch.


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## lazersteve (Apr 28, 2010)

Add a little 3% peroxide to get the reaction started.

Also always do a quick spot test of the crushed material before up sizing to be sure you are not chasing your tail.

Sorry for the short posts, I had surgery yesterday and I'm one handed.

Steve


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## shyknee (Apr 28, 2010)

thanks Steve
sorry to hear about the hand , rest it up good before you start using it again.
I know a guy like you just cant stay still.


get well


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## samuel-a (Apr 29, 2010)

shyknee said:


> Samuel-a thanks for the link
> 
> did you look close they are clean foils there is little bits of gold and stuff .



now that you mention it, i can see the foils, you have there LED's (green+red).
i'd suggest to process them seperatly AP-->AR/HCL+Cl


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## shyknee (Apr 29, 2010)

Samuel_a
there are no LEDs just foils. go to pic and press( Ctrl and + ) to zoom in a few times

today i will try to to put some into solution with AR then test for palladium with stannous 
I will make sure that there is no gold flakes before i do it.

can anyone say definitely that Tantalum will not give me the same color as palladium with a Stannous test


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## meng2k7 (Apr 30, 2010)

hi!

its a sad news steve! whats happened to your hand? 

i got almost 4 tons of chip caps yesterday.


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## lazersteve (Apr 30, 2010)

meng2k7 said:


> hi!
> 
> its a sad news steve! whats happened to your hand?



I had carpal tunnel, they fixed it. 

Now I have to recover from the surgery.

Steve


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## pinman (Apr 30, 2010)

Good to hear


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## shyknee (May 1, 2010)

Steve hope the doctors gave you the good stuff you know for the pain.Hey just heal for now and no long posts.

have some pics for everyone concerning those foils.
I dissolved in AR and got a green solution that was concerning,because steve's video on pd the solution was redish
so i tested with stannous that was all i have to test with and even that color test i'm not sure



is this a positive for palladium or something else
each spot had 4 drops of solution first spot 4 drops stannous ,second spot 2 drops ,last one nothing for comparing
orange to brown darkish no purple at all
any help or comments are always appreciated


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## shyknee (May 2, 2010)

seems like not to many people are sure of what is in these capacitor foils


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## shyknee (May 2, 2010)

patnor1011
have you checked if they dissolved ? For sure do not throw it out .

I think a lot of newbies jump in dissolve everything then lose those values (when it comes to greenfiber chipps )


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## patnor1011 (May 2, 2010)

Well I can say that they are dissolving in HCl. I still can see few bits there but not that much. They are sitting in more than 2 weeks. I changes HCl about 6-7 times. Coloured HCl is going to bucket where I keep used AP.


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## shyknee (May 2, 2010)

Humm?if they have not dissolved then separate them and store and accumulate there is Pd in them .

but they may be to hard to chase after dissolved in AP with all that copper and volume.

im working on posting the results of what i dissolved.but it might just raise the value of those fiber chips because Pd is over 500.00 an oz.


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## shyknee (May 2, 2010)

here are the results it may be good news for some and bad news for others .
I know I lost or failed to save these in the past when I was learning




I think there is other metals in the makeup of the foils just because of the green? but there is Pd :shock: 8)


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## Harold_V (May 3, 2010)

shyknee said:


> I think there is other metals in the makeup of the foils just because of the green? but there is Pd :shock: 8)


It is rare for all of the platinum group to precipitate. The green color is most likely attributed to remaining palladium, along with traces of copper. You can ascertain with surety if that is the case by testing with DMG. A drop of the solution when tested will yield a canary yellow precipitate. The test is very sensitive and will display color on very dilute solutions. 

Place a drop of the solution in a spot plate. Add a drop of ammonium hydroxide. The solution should turn brilliant blue. That's a sign of either copper or nickel. Add a drop of DMG. If you have nickel, the deep blue solution will shift to pink. If it does not, you have copper. 

If you find it is palladium, it can be recovered in the stock pot. 

Harold


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## shyknee (May 3, 2010)

thanks Harold 
will test it with DMG but now i will need to get some .

anyone in Ontario have some for sale does not have to be alot..PM me please.


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## shyknee (May 3, 2010)

hello everyone
I decided to dissolve some more foils this time in hcl + clorox+ h2o2 to see what the color would be
turned out this time to be brown
here is what happened first hcl + clorox 3hours later not much happened so i put in h2o2 and it just turned brown and dissolved everything fast 15min
at the same time I put somefoils in weak nitric and it still trying to dissolve the foils.
ok I should go take some pics

edited


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 3, 2010)

shyknee said:


> hello everyone
> I decided to dissolve some more foils this time in hcl + clorox+ h2o2 to see what the color would be
> turned out this time to be brown
> here is what happened first hcl + clorox 3hours later not much happened so i put in h2o2 and it just turned brown and dissolved everything fast 15min
> ...



No you should stop what you are doing and do a lot of reading before you hurt yourself or someone. Why on earth are you adding the h2o2? Have you seen anyone say they use it to disolve thier gold on purpose??? And then you go and add nitric on top of that, weak or not.

Read this thread real good,especially what Steve says about adding clorox to HCL and how it reacts.

http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=6026

I'm really not trying to be rude but sometime,s you have to be real blunt when someone is messing up big time. Pay attention when someone tells you not to do this or this will not work, especially when it is one of the major leaders here. If you keep going down this path I can promise you there will come a time when you will find it hard to get help here when you need it the most.


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## shyknee (May 4, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 thanks for your concern

but i do not understand what you are eluding to :| :?: 

these are small scale experiments with Pd not gold

they are to satisfy my curiosity and anyone interested

if I'm doing something wrong I will stop posting


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## Harold_V (May 4, 2010)

shyknee said:


> Barren Realms 007 thanks for your concern
> 
> but i do not understand what you are eluding to :| :?:
> 
> ...


You are not doing anything wrong. You are trying to learn the reactions. Running experiments is the best way to accomplish that end. The only time I would have a negative opinion is if you are attempting to process, and are not following what amounts to accepted practice. That, clearly, is not the case here. Carry on, and be sure to share the results with the readers. 

Harold


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## shyknee (May 4, 2010)

thanks Harold
Trusted that if I am doing something wrong on my posts that you or the other moderators will advise me


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## Oz (May 4, 2010)

I do not see anything dangerous about what you have tried so far. Something that has not been mentioned is that your brown coloration in the far left test tube is what I would have expected with decent Pd concentrations. Looking at the different reactions (it would help knowing how long they were allowed to settle) there is a good possibility of tin being present in the feedstock (part of the solder used to attach the components?).

It will be interesting if you used the same mass of raw feedstock for each of these test tubes using different digestion methods and save them for when you get DMG. It will be very informative as to what works best for this material as to taking the PMs into solution. 

Your methodology is very reminiscent of Hoke as to the familiarity experiments she suggests. If you have kept good accurate notes this could help many in understanding these reactions. I applaud your methods and effort.


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 4, 2010)

Well my bad, I apologize.


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## shyknee (May 4, 2010)

Oz thank you 
barrenRealms007 for get about it

Oz all four are from the same feed stalk here is pic i have added more foils to it (from CPU surface mount capacitors)

all tin and other metals that HCL can remove were removed diligently. 
first three test tubes did have the same amount of foils each (ruffly) the only heat is a small warming plate (maybe 45 degrees c)
i put the acids in each at the same time .
the one with AR i worked on with small additions of nitric until all foils were gone except a few on the bottom,then i filtered this to the polished green you see.
then I noted that the HCL +CLOROX was yellow and wasn't doing much( about three hours had passed )so i put 5% peroxide in (first about three drops) and noted the top layer of foils just disappear so I stirred and add more few drops at a time until all gone (this took 15 mins )
did not fillter this yet it was getting late and had to go ,so took those pics.

the last test tube with the ammonium chloride and potassium chlorate from the other day.
I realized that I had not concentrated the solution before trying to drop the Pd and that there may have been some free nitric.i will correct this later.

my next step is to try and drop Pd from HCL+Clorox.

I want to try HCL+ potassium chlorate to see the reaction (it should dissolve the foils then maybe I can just add ammonium chloride to drop the Pd ?) this would reduce volume of solution maybe ?

more test to come with pictures


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## shyknee (May 4, 2010)

i just come back from trying the HCL + potassium chlorate ( Lou mentioned it would be faster )
thanks for that tip.Reaction was over in 3 min the most I used careful additions of potassium chlorate it only took 1/8th of a pea size.
i am filtering the solutions.
another note the nitric finished its reaction over night , I was just going to cement the Pd to see what kind of volume there is(with copper)
i think there is some kind of other metal mixed with the Pd. Any thoughts ?
And the HCL + Cl +H2o2 turned greenish overnight
I will post the pics after filtering


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## shyknee (May 4, 2010)

some photos i promised
then

open to suggestions for the next step


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## Barren Realms 007 (May 4, 2010)

Very very nice.


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## lazersteve (May 4, 2010)

The lime green color is probably from Nickel. 

1. Confirm nickel in solution by adding ammonium hydroxide to sample until basic. 
2. Add a drop of DMG test solution.
3. Pink color indicates nickel.

Gold flakes likely from small bits of solder pads that were pulled from the boards when the capacitors were removed. Although some capacitors are known to have gold plates ('foils') in them.

Steve


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## shyknee (May 5, 2010)

thanks Steve and Barren Realms 007
while I wait for the test solution, i was thinking of cementing with copper (only the nitric test) to see what kind of volume is left after removing that nickle ,the nickle should stay behind with the copper wright.
then i will re dissolve what is left for color comparison.


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## Oz (May 5, 2010)

I would wait for your DMG first, you will find that although copper is effective at cementing the Pd and leaving the nickel behind, it is slow and a finely divided end product.


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## shyknee (May 5, 2010)

thanks Oz i will wait


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## patnor1011 (May 7, 2010)

Shyknee...
Are you getting your DMG soon? I can part with few grams for sake of this experiment. I saw those foils in my batch of green fiber cpus. If you want pm me your address and I will send you some DMG. Pat.


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## shyknee (May 7, 2010)

patnor1011 said:


> Shyknee...
> Are you getting your DMG soon? I can part with few grams for sake of this experiment. I saw those foils in my batch of green fiber cpus. If you want pm me your address and I will send you some DMG. Pat.


thanks patnor1011 i should have it in about 2 weeks in the meantime i am getting other things (that i have been putting off ) done.


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## shyknee (Jun 17, 2010)

its almost 45 days and the DMG still has not arrived from our friend in Russia what should i do ? ebay rules suck .
I should give more time becuase of volcano and G8 or G20 causing customs delays but i can't claim after 45 days .
did anyones stuff take longer than 45days ?


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## patnor1011 (Jun 18, 2010)

It is quite long. I got mine in 11 days but I am in EU. Maybe that volcano did cause some delays but better try to contact him.


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## shyknee (Jun 18, 2010)

patnor1011 said:


> It is quite long. I got mine in 11 days but I am in EU. Maybe that volcano did cause some delays but better try to contact him.



or it could be the white powder scenario looks very suspicious to a customs officer ?
did you ever process any of those flakes or try testing them ?


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## patnor1011 (Jun 18, 2010)

no. i simply did not have time. but wifey is going for holiday with kids for month so i will have plenty of time to do that. i have about kilo of this monolithics saved for experimenting so hope that i will start some day next week.


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## shyknee (Jul 9, 2010)

lazersteve said:


> The lime green color is probably from Nickel.
> 
> 1. Confirm nickel in solution by adding ammonium hydroxide to sample until basic.
> 2. Add a drop of DMG test solution.
> ...


O.K. I finally did test with DMG all 4 tested showed pink indicator for nickel .
it was getting dark out so I will take a picture of the spot plate, and I will test for palladium tomorrow .
Q: do the solutions need to be heated for the palladium test ?

I realized that I will have to dry the foils so that they can be weighed so we can have some idea of % palladium to nickel and other metals (this before i process the rest of the foils)


I must say things do look bleak for Pd quantity out of this volume .
I say this because I cemented out the nitric test to get some Idea of quantity( sorry OZ I could not wait )


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## shyknee (Jul 9, 2010)

have a very happy birthday Steve I wish you many more to come


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## lazersteve (Jul 9, 2010)

shyknee said:


> Q: do the solutions need to be heated for the palladium test ?



No, just be sure the solution is acidic when testing for Pd with DMG.

Steve


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## shyknee (Jul 9, 2010)

thanks Steve
here are those test pictures


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## lazersteve (Jul 9, 2010)

I'm confused now, are you testing for Pd or Ni?

Nickel test is done in with ammonia and DMG.

Palladium test is done with any acid and DMG.

What is the photo of?

Steve


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## shyknee (Jul 9, 2010)

the tests where done last night using ammonia + DMG but the picture was only taken today.
first I added 2 drops from each test tube.
then I added the ammonia and the green changed to blue then added the DMG and it produced the pink that indicates nickel
now i want to test for Pd will I see the yellow through the green 
the other question is that these test tubes have been siting there for more than 6 weeks is there any danger


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## shyknee (Jul 10, 2010)

Im afraid there is no yellow precipitate in the first test tube after i added the DMG this test tube was HCl + clorox + H2O2 to dissolve the foils so no Pd
I will test the AR test tube tomorrow


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