Aqua Regia became thick

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intruder

New member
Joined
Feb 12, 2013
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2
I made my aqua rega with ammonium nitrate and hcl.. i got the gold from some old processors and computer cards, i filtered it got a nice dark green liquid.. I added urea until it stopped fizzing.. i added sodium bisulfate the green aqua regia/urea foamed brown. the liqid is thick and not water thin now i do have some brown (gold dust) in the bottom. should i add water or do i just filter wash and melt down

Thank you in advance
Chuck
 
intruder said:
I made my aqua rega with ammonium nitrate and hcl.. i got the gold from some old processors and computer cards, i filtered it got a nice dark green liquid.. I added urea until it stopped fizzing.. i added sodium bisulfate the green aqua regia/urea foamed brown. the liqid is thick and not water thin now i do have some brown (gold dust) in the bottom. should i add water or do i just filter wash and melt down

Thank you in advance
Chuck

check the chemical you are trying to precipitate with. sodium BISULFATE may be the problem. it should be sodium BISULFITE.one letter makes a world of difference. sodium sulfite will precipitate gold and sodium sulfate will not precipitate gold.
 
What you made is not aqua regia. It's a funky mixture of ammonium nitrate and HCl that might sort of work if you do things perfectly. If you want more predictable results, why not get some nitric acid and make some REAL aqua regia?
 
Ammonium compounds and metals can be a very bad idea, you could create a metal compound or salt that could prove dangerous somewhere in your processing, as there is a possibility of making an explosive compound somewhere in the process, you could come to a place where drying out a fine metal precipitate could explode, or when you tried melting.

I would not use the ammonium nitrate fertilizer in this process.
Not much solder can still be a lot of tin, so I do not see your chances of making this work improve.
Too many different metals in solution = too much of a mess.

Bisulfate just added another impurity.

You need to start from the beginning.
Read Hokes book.
Study the safety section Dealing with waste.
Study the forum.
Start with simple experiments.
Start with simple materials and processes like memory fingers.
Start reading and following the process just like it is written, follow all of the steps in the process, missing small steps may make a big difference, that little detail you think is not important may actually be a very important detail in the overall success of the process, do not change ingredients, do not include or remove steps , or make changes to the process, study the process well and get a good understanding of each step, learn as much as you can of why it works or why it will not work, most recovery or refining actually has many processes involved, each one made to improve the quality, remove unwanted material prepare for later processes to get the values as pure as possible, simple steps or pretreatments like mechanical separation, and removing troublesome metals, incineration of oils or trash, can make a big difference if you recover or lose your valuable metal, basically missing a minor detail can determine if you win or lose in this game.

Look at the words Bisulfate, Bisulfite, that one letter in the word can determine if you get gold or not, if you win or lose, details that seem unimportant can be very important

Do not throw away anything until you understand how to deal with it safely, put a bar of copper metal in the mess, cover it and put it in a safe place for now, start with Hokes, dealing with waste.....
 
butcher said:
Ammonium compounds and metals can be a very bad idea, you could create a metal compound or salt that could prove dangerous somewhere in your processing, as there is a possibility of making an explosive compound somewhere in the process, you could come to a place where drying out a fine metal precipitate could explode, or when you tried melting.

I would not use the ammonium nitrate fertilizer in this process.
Not much solder can still be a lot of tin, so I do not see your chances of making this work improve.
Too many different metals in solution = too much of a mess.

Bisulfate just added another impurity.

You need to start from the beginning.
Read Hokes book.
Study the safety section Dealing with waste.
Study the forum.
Start with simple experiments.
Start with simple materials and processes like memory fingers.
Start reading and following the process just like it is written, follow all of the steps in the process, missing small steps may make a big difference, that little detail you think is not important may actually be a very important detail in the overall success of the process, do not change ingredients, do not include or remove steps , or make changes to the process, study the process well and get a good understanding of each step, learn as much as you can of why it works or why it will not work, most recovery or refining actually has many processes involved, each one made to improve the quality, remove unwanted material prepare for later processes to get the values as pure as possible, simple steps or pretreatments like mechanical separation, and removing troublesome metals, incineration of oils or trash, can make a big difference if you recover or lose your valuable metal, basically missing a minor detail can determine if you win or lose in this game.

Look at the words Bisulfate, Bisulfite, that one letter in the word can determine if you get gold or not, if you win or lose, details that seem unimportant can be very important

Do not throw away anything until you understand how to deal with it safely, put a bar of copper metal in the mess, cover it and put it in a safe place for now, start with Hokes, dealing with waste.....
Who could have said that any better? Thanks Butcher, because it feels like you're talking to me too. I appreciate your knowledge.

Just reading this made me think about all the things I've been taught here and from Hoke's book. It makes a world of difference when you follow everything to the "T". I made a mistake (overshooting the process), but I overcame it by reading and and taking heed to what I was told. In the end, I came out with gold that I thought I had botched for good.

DO NOT overlook ANY known and proven method taught here. If you do, you're doomed.

And one more thing..... DO NOT experiment with chemicals if you're not familiar with their reactions to other substances and so forth. Your one mistake can be your last one.... forever :cry: .

Be safe and study the MSDS sheets of EVERY chemical you work with. It can/WILL prove to be a life saver.


Kevin
 
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