Boards soaked in hcl

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bcgold

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 22, 2016
Messages
66
Hcl takes up the nickle plating under gold plated pins, takes up tin leaving the silver behind as a sludge small surface caps smaller than fly sheet fall off.

On the first load used electrolysis to plate out the tin, second and third load just used scrap aluminum to recover the mossy tin which is so full of hydrogen bubbles it floats. I add a bit of fresh hcl to replenish the weakened acid.

This leaching process was done outdoors with out heat, If I do this again will make a vessel that can be heated the biodiesel shops sell a nice barrel blanket for this purpose.

Top two images are of the slime's recovered from the bottom of my vessel, bottom image small caps.
 
Those tiny surface caps that fell off during the soaking, 239.8 grams incinerated then crushed.

The Pyrex container with surface caps has way less material in it than when I had the slime's in it and the weight is near double.
 
bcgold said:
Never as expected.

l1.png

l2.png

So what was not expected :?:

And as important (if not more important) what WAS expected :?:

Showing a pic of a bunch of sludge in a filter & a green solution in a beaker does not tell us a lot :?: :?: :?: :roll: :? :shock:

Kurt
 
kurtak said:
bcgold said:
Never as expected.

l1.png

l2.png

So what was not expected :?:

And as important (if not more important) what WAS expected :?:

Showing a pic of a bunch of sludge in a filter & a green solution in a beaker does not tell us a lot :?: :?: :?: :roll: :? :shock:

Kurt

Yeah but it's activity! Unfortunately there's a confusion between activity and progress in many cases :lol: :lol:

OK what testing are you doing here BC, because Kurt has an extremely valid point.

Jon

Edit: I can think of any number of things that could be in those sludges.
 
anachronism said:
I can think of any number of things that could be in those sludges.

Considering the source material and the acid used to harvest, care to give it your best shot.


ta.png
 
kurtak said:
bcgold said:
Never as expected.

l1.png

l2.png

So what was not expected :?:

And as important (if not more important) what WAS expected :?:

Showing a pic of a bunch of sludge in a filter & a green solution in a beaker does not tell us a lot :?: :?: :?: :roll: :? :shock:

Kurt

The salts in the green liquid your referring to are chlorides, tested negative for values.

Harold_V said:
Silver recovered with copper won't be pure, and your results reflect that fact.
I had a policy of reserving the last removal of silver from my silver cell to be used in making the next batch of electrolyte. I operated my silver cell on a continual basis, until I'd parted all of the anodes I'd accumulated. There's method to my madness, which I'll explain.

If the silver used in making electrolyte yields anything more colorful than an almost colorless solution, especially after heating to a low boil, there's something present besides silver. By using the last silver recovered in the cell, I verified that I was depositing only silver, no copper, no palladium. My electrolyte, while still concentrated, after boiling, was just a hint of yellow, and became pretty much colorless when I added the required amount of distilled water. I always diluted the resulting solution, as allowed to cool, it grew immense silver nitrate crystals if not diluted.

The boiling process, in my experience, served to expel any traces of those nasty brown fumes, which, mixed with silver and copper, make a green solution. Also take note that when you have a green tint, you may also have platinum and/or palladium present, so test for each any time you have discoloration. If you process dental materials, it's almost impossible to avoid both of them, as silver becomes the carrier.

Harold
 
I still don't see an answer to the question:

Why are you doing this?

The last time I checked this is a "gold refining forum" and not
a lets make a pile of goo and see if we can filter it forum.

Not trying to be a donkey but this post is confusing and seems pointless.
 
bcgold said:
anachronism said:
I can think of any number of things that could be in those sludges.

Considering the source material and the acid used to harvest, care to give it your best shot.


ta.png

What "shot" would you like me to give you? You were looking for Tin recovery originally if my memory serves me correctly. Your HCl "process" is dissolving everything that's reacting to HCl. That's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, unless of course you've found a way to isolate the Tin from the rest. If you have then brilliant, because you're onto something.

Without knowing what you've got it's a less valid proposition.

You need to be able to define exactly what you've got in order to be doing something that is worthwhile. Harold worked with jewellery rather than ewaste. Whilst he is extremely knowledgeable in his field, he's not the most relevant reference point here due to the whole smorgasbord of materials involved in dunking a PC board in HCl.

That is what I am asking you, and I am more than happy to be proven to be overly pessimistic. I'm happy to learn so please enlighten me.

Jon
 
anachronism said:
I can think of any number of things that could be in those sludges.

Considering the source material and the acid used to harvest, care to give it your best shot.

[/quote]
anachronism said:
Your HCl "process" is dissolving everything that's reacting to HCl. That's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut,
Jon


It's what did not go into the HCL that is of interest, like perhaps a bit of gold from the wave solder which if there is any present will be in the slime's.

The acid treatment was not the most brilliant idea but it sufficed to see if there really is a bit of gold in that wave solder, in future a sand blast cabinet using a silica based media once spent could be added to a smelting operation.

If the tin proved to be a problem one could first remove the much more volatile tin beforehand.

Rain has shut this op down for the day, here is where I'm currently at with the slime's. I've now advanced to AR.
 
This bowel contains the black slime's after incineration, if you look closely you'll see some a bit of carbon, during the ar leach this floated to the surface where it was easily skimmed off.

I once again incinerated this carbon then crushed it up and what I saw was the most beautiful red powder.
 
I have several pounds of activated carbon that I've harvested from fuel vapor canisters, if anyone knows how to clean this carbon from the hydrocarbons so that the AC maybe reused. Do share.
 
bcgold said:
anachronism said:
I'll have to ask a relevant question. How do you know this is just Tin?

Au_Pt_Pd_Stannous.jpg

Huh? What relevance does that have to this question? Could you stop with the cryptic stuff please and just answer the question in plain english?

How do you know that what you have shown us is Tin, and tin alone? Howe have you tested and determined that it is Tin and not something else?
 
anachronism said:
bcgold said:
anachronism said:
I'll have to ask a relevant question. How do you know this is just Tin?

Au_Pt_Pd_Stannous.jpg

Huh? What relevance does that have to this question? Could you stop with the cryptic stuff please and just answer the question in plain english?

How do you know that what you have shown us is Tin, and tin alone? Howe have you tested and determined that it is Tin and not something else?

Credits for the Stannous image belong to laser_steve.

Have you read Hoke's Refining Precious Metals Wastes, a picture is worth a thousand words and the answer you seek is in Steve's stannous image. For further clarification will add this paragraph from Hoke's book.

In addition to making my stannous chloride test solution from this harvested tin have also evaporated some into stannous crystals.

Crystallizing is another way to purify an element.
 
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