# reusing sulfuric acid for acid cells



## ModernEverything (Oct 7, 2013)

Hello, I am confused.
I read somewhere on this forum that you can reuse sulfuric acid, for the acid cell involved in reverse electrolysis, by boiling it. How would I boil sulfuric acid???
I am on the fence with reverse electroplating since I HAVE no information on which methods are more efficient, nor do I have any clue to how much gold there is in a single, fully plated male ide pin from a motherboard header, nor do I know how much gold is left unusable by reverse electroplating, so I don't know what method I should use to recover the gold from my 150+ grams of fully plated ide pins. I have weighed one, and it weighs .035 grams. 
I also have a few pounds of partially plated pci slot pins, as well as 80 grams of gold fingers.

I already know that I will use the old fashioned inquarting method for refining the gold I manage to extract, but I would like to know of any other more efficient ways.

How should I extract the gold, as well as the nickel and copper, if possible, from this supply, and how much weight would yield with each process?

Thanks,
-ME


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## jimdoc (Oct 7, 2013)

ModernEverything said:


> Hello, I am confused.
> I read somewhere on this forum that you can reuse sulfuric acid, for the acid cell involved in reverse electrolysis, by boiling it. How would I boil sulfuric acid???
> I am on the fence with reverse electroplating since I HAVE no information on which methods are more efficient, nor do I have any clue to how much gold there is in a single, fully plated male ide pin from a motherboard header, nor do I know how much gold is left unusable by reverse electroplating, so I don't know what method I should use to recover the gold from my 150+ grams of fully plated ide pins. I have weighed one, and it weighs .035 grams.
> I also have a few pounds of partially plated pci slot pins, as well as 80 grams of gold fingers.
> ...



How long have you been studying the forum?

Jim


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## ModernEverything (Oct 7, 2013)

A few days tbh
I keep seeing people saying that you would need tons to make any profit
I don't know if they are joking or not
I already have free access to sulphuric acid, as well as muratic acid, nitric acid, and peroxide, so it would all be profit.
I'm just curious to see which methods are better, which have a higher yield, etc
However, I HAVE not seen anyone answer this question on any of the threads I've read: how much gold is in a single ide header pin, in weight?
A percentage of the gold content would be useful as well.
Thanks!
-ME


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## Geo (Oct 7, 2013)

so you have access to free chemicals. well, your about 1% ready to start. at this rate you will be melting your first bar in about a year if your lucky. i have a lot of suggestions, start here first. http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=19074


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## galenrog (Oct 7, 2013)

Geo gives good advice. I thought it would be easy. No it is not. Read. Study. Read more. Perform small scale experiments as suggested in Hoke. By that time, you may be ready.


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## ModernEverything (Oct 7, 2013)

Geo said:


> so you have access to free chemicals. well, your about 1% ready to start. at this rate you will be melting your first bar in about a year if your lucky. i have a lot of suggestions, start here first. http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=19074


Lol I read that like 5 minutes ago.
I came back to this post to see it again, Ty for your input though.
I realize it isn't easy


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## butcher (Oct 7, 2013)

ModernEverything,
I think once you study for some time you will begin to see how much understanding you will need to be able to recover and refine precious metals, actually once you learn it it is not that hard, but it can take years to learn, and the thing is you can spend a lifetime and still not know everything.

It is only by study will you learn, there is no way you can gain the knowledge needed by asking a few million questions, in study of Hokes book you will learn very important basic principles, understanding these basics puts you miles ahead, giving you the tools needed, the forum is a vast library of information, which you will find a great resource, most anything you can think of has already been asked and answered sometime so many time, that members get sick of answering the same old questions.

You have only been here a very short time, it will take some time to gain the understanding you need, do not worry about getting gold that will come easier with time, first concentrate on learning, because without learning, you will not be able to get gold, or you will just loose it in the processes (you have to understand the basics, and have a good understanding of the processes you will use to recover and then refine the gold.

Download Hokes book, this book is the key to learning the basic principles, follow the forums guided tour found in the general chat section, when you study a process use the forum search to locate information or things you need to know, when you do not understand or run into a road block finding an answer ask and our members will be glad to help a person they see working hard to find answers.

I noticed you are asking for a yield on a single pin, sometimes people post yields they have gotten, but they usually would not be for a single pin, but for something like pounds of pins, it is normally best to get your own yield data from your testing or processing this way you know for sure the yield, GSP has made some amazing posts on the math and thickness of gold plating, you may find these helpful.

Personally with the little bit of scrap you mention, if that is all I had I would not even begin with it, This should not be a problem, because with the amount of study you will need before you begin, you will have plenty of time to build up your scrap piles.

As far as the concentrated sulfuric acid, the concentrated acid would hold very little gold in solution, the gold will settle as mud, so you would not have to dilute the solution if you planned on reusing it, you can store it concentrated, sulfuric acid is fairly cheap, can be very dangerous to dilute (be sure you understand the safety before using this stuff has crippled people for life), or to concentrate, so it may make more sense to you to just use new acid when you need it instead of trying to concentrate the dilute acid.

You have to understand these guys are trying to help you get started, they are not being smarty pants, they have begun just like you, and they understand better than you what is involved to get started, listen to them as following their advice will be very helpful to getting started off on the right foot.

Welcome to the forum, the best place in the world to learn the art and science of recovery and refining of precious metals.
If you do not have a copy you can find Hokes book in the book section or under many members signature lines, one of our fine members has made a printable copy which he showed a very nice book he made from it.


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## ModernEverything (Oct 8, 2013)

... I'm not sure if it is worth mentioning at this moment but I have some ingots I got from a friend that he smelted from ide pins, I have like 2 pounds of ingots
I will read up, and if the book is free I will download it as well.
Thanks for the heads up!
-ME


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## jimdoc (Oct 8, 2013)

ModernEverything said:


> ... I'm not sure if it is worth mentioning at this moment but I have some ingots I got from a friend that he smelted from ide pins, I have like 2 pounds of ingots
> I will read up, and if the book is free I will download it as well.
> Thanks for the heads up!
> -ME



Yes, please read up. Especially on your "smelted ingots", search "Ebay gold blobs".

Jim


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## niteliteone (Oct 8, 2013)

To address your question of how much gold is in your plated pins...
From my experience doing common high yield pins, I was getting approximately 1/10 of 1% of starting weight :shock: from standard MB header pins so if you are lucky enough to get a 100% return on the 150+ grams you have the return would be around 0.15 grams of gold, minus what is trapped in process.
This would give a gold ball about the size of a single #6 bird shot pellet from a shot gun shell. That is why others advise saving up a Lot more scrap before starting.


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## bswartzwelder (Oct 8, 2013)

Everyone is pointing you in the right direction. But there are many paths to get to what it is you intend to do. Please, for your own safety (and the safety of those around you), do not take any shortcuts. 

Having the required knowledge and the right safety equipment (and using it properly) is more important than having the right chemicals and processing equipment. With the wrong chemicals or processing equipment, you could lose the values you are trying to recover. Without proper safety equipment and knowledge, you could die.

I don't know where you get your chemicals for free, but in the case of an electrolytic cell, you need CONCENTRATED sulfuric acid. It should be in the 90% range. The higher the better. Most people here use it in the 95% to 98% range. With it that concentrated, a single drop of sweat can cause a steam explosion spraying acid all over everything. Thankfully, most of the people here learn from the mistakes of others especially when dangerous situations present themselves.

One more piece of friendly advice. Do not use texting lingo, ever. It is frowned upon on this forum and will not be tolerated. Having said that, there are many, many abbreviations which are used and are perfectly acceptable. The list is long and include chemical abbreviations, but please be accurate when using them as well. HCl is hydrochloric acid while HCL isn't really proper. Although NEVER USED in an electrolytic cell, SMB is sodium metabisulfite (Na2S2O5) and is not sodium metabisulfate (Na2S2O6). Very closely related and spelled almost the same, but one will work to precipitate gold from solution and the other will not. 

Welcome to the forum. Study long and be safe.


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## patnor1011 (Oct 8, 2013)

Your melted IDE pins ingots can be sold as dirty copper, maybe if you will find scrap yard which will take them. 
They may look nice and golden but that is just flash plating. Many kilograms needed if you want to have some nice chunk of gold. 
I have over 10 kilograms of them and I will not process them, not until gold price will go up at least 3-4 times of what it is now. It is simply not worth my time and chemicals to work for such a small return.


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