Incenarating Flat Packs, N/S Bridges, Black Chips...

I joined this great Forum 2 years ago this February, & I learned to process gold & silver scrap jewelry. Then I learned to recover & refine gold using the sulphuric cell. I've also learned to process some e-scrap, mainly fingers & cpu's, but, not enough experience in the other areas of e-scarp. So, I've gotten to the point of having to process this type of material, (black chips), in order to recover safely & efficiantly, any PM's from them. (E-scrap is starting to "come my way" with more frequency & it's time to start experimenting in this other areas & gain some experience.)
After reading the information, that's been kindly shared by some fellow members, I decided to give it a GO!
So, having at hand 3/4# of flat packs & bridges; 1.4# of ram black chips & 1.8# of an assorment of black chips from HD's, MB, PCB's & others, I've opted to use incenaration in order to get rid of the epoxy & free the metals in them.
I have a number of B-B-Q"s, so I pick the smallest & less used for incenarating the material, (it won't be used for cooking any more).
After lighting the charcoal & placed the 3/4# of flat packs & in less than 1 hr. they were done. Now, I used my propane torch to burn the smoke that started to seep thru the sides of the lid, like an afterburner; then I removed the lid, (at this point, the smoke was just about all gone) & finish roasting them with the torch. Then followed the 1.4# of ram chips; & after those, the 1.8# of mixed black chips.
After letting them cool & crushed them & proceeded to boil the 1.4# batch in diluted nitric.
Tomorrow I'll finish rinsing, & proceed to digest in AR.
As soon as I have a yield, I'll post it.

Any comments & advise will be welcome.

Phil

Good luck with your efforts, and keep safe.

Hi Phil!
How are tricks ? I hope your all well!
I just wanted to say nice work chief , I really like the idea of using a lid to catch any smoke and then using a torch as an afterburner , I'll have to incorporate that next time I pyrolyze! 8)
I look forward to seeing your finished product!
All the best for now and kind regards ,
Chris

Thanks Recycleordie!

Hi Kuma!
I'm going to do some work on the Bar-B's cover, so to introduce air/flame to bring up the heat & ignite the smoke.

A couple of pic's of the material after 2 diluted nitric boils. Since, its been boil & rinsed in distilled water, waiting for the temp to get a bit above the freeezing point. It's 28F.
This is from 1.4# of Ram memory black chips.

Thanks!

Phil

Hi Phil , hows things?

philddreamer said:

I'm going to do some work on the Bar-B's cover, so to introduce air/flame to bring up the heat & ignite the smoke.

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Me likey! 8)
I just wish that I had some way of cleaning up my material just now , I was thinking even the AP process on a small (tiny) scale to clean up the leftover base metals , ah well , patience is a virtue , I suppose , :lol:
Nice work there chief!
All the best and kind regards for now ,
Chris

Crazy to see snow on the west side, its bare and dry here in Spokane, has been most the winter.

What did you use for a vessel when you did your incineration? Its hard to tell from the pictures what it was originally

-Lance

Hi Kuma!
Things a pretty chilly out here in Western Washington, expecting more snow, the main dump on wednesday they say.
Kuma, you might be able to clean some of the ash with water, panning it like Patnor. At least until you can use chemicals.

Lance, I wish you had our snow! :lol: It's hilly out here & a bit of snow or ice makes it miserable to drive around.
Anyways, I used a porcelain coated pan. I have about half a dozen SS bowls, but I was concerned on getting the fire too hot & having metals stick to it.
It worked fine.
Thank you gentlemen!

Phil

Hi again Phil!

philddreamer said:

Kuma, you might be able to clean some of the ash with water, panning it like Patnor. At least until you can use chemicals.

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For sure chief , I still have my twice crushed and panned material in the wash bucket kept out of the way , and I plan on trying to pan out what more I possibly can at some point soon , even if only for some more practice with the panning as nothing will get thrown .
I really look forward to getting stuck in and leaching the rest of this material and digesting the leftover metalic pieces too , it will take some time yet before I can do any of these things , but for now my collection of materials for processing is starting to look good and it will only get bigger in the meantime , 8)
Cheers Phil!
All the best and kind regards for now ,
Chris :mrgreen:

Phil, don't put any holes in your lid, try to keep the oxygen out. If you have a leaf blower or a small fan just point one at the coals if you want more heat, it will get really hot so just watch it and don't leave it unattended when blowing. Then after you crush everything sift it all out through a fine screen and process the bigger stuff separately.

Thanks for the tip Smack!
I'll give the screening a try & process the coarser material separate from the fines. The issues that I've encountered are because of the fines, mainly, settling of the fines.
Also, in the 1st pic you can see the smoke ignited to the left. On my next batch, I'll add more charcoal so there will be heat at that higher point, (where the smoke is escaping from under the cover), plus, I'll use a blower; I'm sure that will ignite all the smoke.

Kuma, just hang in there brother, & continue collecting more material; in essence that's what I've done.

Thanks!

Phil

Hi guy's , how are tricks? :mrgreen:
Thanks for the extra tips on the pyrolyzation stage guy's , I'm deffinatly taking all of this on board!

philddreamer said:

Kuma, just hang in there brother, & continue collecting more material; in essence that's what I've done.

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For sure chief!
In all honestly it's been a whole lot easier to find free old computers and equipment over here than I initaly thought it would be , I basicaly just get enough to keep me out of trouble as and when I need it , and so far it's working out for me! :mrgreen:
The chemistry thing will happen as and when it can , so for the time being I have all the time in the world ( ish , :lol: ) to carry on learning what I can about the different processes and the reactions that will occur , and I've got to say so far I'm loving it!
All the very best guy's , and kind regards ,
Chris

If you pyrolyze properly, any dust that is left shouldn't cause you any problems. Do your nitric then filter through a automotive paint strainer to hold back any powder and values, filter the resulting solution through your coffee filter or buchner to finish cleaning it up and drop your silver, then A/R the rest and if there is still a bunch of foreign material left you can use the paint strainer again to speed up the filtering through your final filter. But remember to not pour straight acid through the paint stainer as it is paper, the acid needs to be diluted, both nitric and A/R. They shouldn't charge you anything for the strainers either. If you don't want to use the strainers because of the paper you can get a paint strainer from home depot, it's like a mesh bag (white)then just pour through a funnel. I use some bucket top strainers I got from dudadiesel. They go from 75mesh to 600. They are the way to go, so you don't have to dilute and you keep you chemical waste volume to a minimum. Just trying to help. Sry if it's kind of mixed up, or not in perfect order, not everybody has access to all the same stuff.

Thanks Smack, I'm following you. I just sifted the 3/4# from flat packs & now the waffers & coarser material is in nitric.

The first 1.4# ram chips are in AR, & the reaction is slowing down. I'll add a bit more nitric, if no reaction, then let it settle overnite. Stannous test; decant & vacuum filter.

Thanks again!

Phil

I won this auction a while ago. I hope is in good working order.
I'll get me a compressor, like the ones on a dredge, & set it up outside...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160713323665?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Phil

Hi guy's , how are tricks?

Smack said:

If you pyrolyze properly, any dust that is left shouldn't cause you any problems. Do your nitric then filter through a automotive paint strainer to hold back any powder and values, filter the resulting solution through your coffee filter or buchner to finish cleaning it up and drop your silver,

Click to expand...

I hear you too there chief , thanks!

philddreamer said:

I won this auction a while ago. I hope is in good working order.
I'll get me a compressor, like the ones on a dredge, & set it up outside...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160713323665?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Phil

Click to expand...

Wow , want (need) one! :shock: :lol:
Well , I'm going to pike it for toinight and head off to my pit! :mrgreen:
Many thanks guys ,
With kind regards and best wishes for now ,
Chris

Ram chips processed in AR solution stannous tested; positive for Pd.

philddreamer said:

Ram chips processed in AR solution stannous tested; positive for Pd.

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Phil

Did the preceding Nitric leach tested positive for Ag/Pd ?

I suspcet it will as i mentioned before.

Hi Sam!
No, I did not. I should have... yesterday I was so wrapped up crushing ceramic cpu's, checking an AP process, starting the nitric on the flat packs & more, that I forgot to test the nitric solution; I guess I was just to focused on the gold in the AR. So, I was surprised to get, (what seems to me), & positive for Pd in the AR.
I ran the material in nitric until all reaction stopped. I adde a bit more nitric & increased the heat, but there was no reaction, so I proceeded to rinse & then the AR. I need to slow down.

Another 1.5 hours before sunrise, then I'll head out back to the shed.

Thanks!

How do you refill those air tanks? :|

i used to do some diving for mussels we used Gast oilless compressors for our breathing air supply.we also used compressed air cylinders that held 3600 psi, $15 to refill at the dive shop.these were full sized cylinders that we used to refill our scuba tanks with.bought two used cylinders for $100 each.