Iodine leach

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patnor1011

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May 22, 2008
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limerick
Look and marvel how fast it is :)
While it is one of the more expensive methods it may be a solution for people who do not have access to cyanide or do not want to work with hot sulfuric, wait a long time for AP or create a lot of waste dissolving plated material.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p39UdRKFZRs[/youtube]
 
Really nice demonstration. So it does not effect the copper, stainless steel or nichol substrate? Or if it was left to long it would put those in solution as well?

I asked some questions on your leach system video post? I would have asked here if I saw this first.

Should I move those questions to here?

Thanks for sharing?



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Very cool Pat 8)

couple questions - what is the percent/strength of the iodine - where do you get it & are there restriction on how much you can get over there

I ask because over here in the U.S. they made iodine a "list 1" restricted/regulated chemical due to it being a chemical used for making meth so here in the U.S. you can only get it at 2.2 % & are limited to the amount you are allowed to buy - in other words very restricted here unless you jump through a bunch of hoops to be certified

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2007/07/02/E7-12736/changes-in-the-regulation-of-iodine-crystals-and-chemical-mixtures-containing-over-22-percent-iodine

Kurt
 
It has been years since I bought iodine, I had no trouble purchasing it at the feed store (iodine for Thrush treatment of horses hooves), I just had to show several forms of identification, and fill out some federal forms.

https://www.google.com/search?q=thrush+iodine&sxsrf=ALeKk020WkuR0R36YJqr6de7Knnvxw4yVQ:1589123160717&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjzuf6LyanpAhWJvZ4KHdiICw4Q_AUoAnoECA0QBA&biw=1024&bih=705
 
rickzeien said:
Really nice demonstration. So it does not effect the copper, stainless steel or nichol substrate? Or if it was left to long it would put those in solution as well?

I asked some questions on your leach system video post? I would have asked here if I saw this first.

Should I move those questions to here?

Thanks for sharing?



Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Rick, it does not affect stainless - I did not observe that but it will dissolve copper if left there too long. At least that is what I saw when I put in some broken pinless cpu with some layers of copper exposed. I saw white milky stuff coming off which can be copper iodide - but that is just my guess.
My son is starting to study chemistry at university so he will be like my tutor in things theoretical in a short time :)
Leach solution was prepared from distilled water, potassium iodide and iodine crystals in ratio 10:4:1
 
kurtak said:
Very cool Pat 8)

couple questions - what is the percent/strength of the iodine - where do you get it & are there restriction on how much you can get over there

I ask because over here in the U.S. they made iodine a "list 1" restricted/regulated chemical due to it being a chemical used for making meth so here in the U.S. you can only get it at 2.2 % & are limited to the amount you are allowed to buy - in other words very restricted here unless you jump through a bunch of hoops to be certified

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2007/07/02/E7-12736/changes-in-the-regulation-of-iodine-crystals-and-chemical-mixtures-containing-over-22-percent-iodine

Kurt

Kurt my friend, Iodine is pure crystals. I got it from ebay -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250g-Iodine-Crystals-Resublimed-99-9-pure-quality-product/152297085475
There is no restriction to buy this item other than you have to be over 18.
If you cant buy iodine you can actually make it from iodide. Is there any restriction to buy potassium iodide in the USA?
 
patnor1011 said:
rickzeien said:
Really nice demonstration. So it does not effect the copper, stainless steel or nichol substrate? Or if it was left to long it would put those in solution as well?

I asked some questions on your leach system video post? I would have asked here if I saw this first.

Should I move those questions to here?

Thanks for sharing?



Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Rick, it does not affect stainless - I did not observe that but it will dissolve copper if left there too long. At least that is what I saw when I put in some broken pinless cpu with some layers of copper exposed. I saw white milky stuff coming off which can be copper iodide - but that is just my guess.
My son is starting to study chemistry at university so he will be like my tutor in things theoretical in a short time :)
Leach solution was prepared from distilled water, potassium iodide and iodine crystals in ratio 10:4:1
Thanks. I am very interested in this leaching method. I have almost everything set up for my own trials.

I had read that the leach time was very fast now I see in your video that it is.

Keep up the great work!

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Hi Pat

Just did a search on potassium iodide (is potassium iodide a restricted chemical) & from what I can see the KI is not restricted like iodine is so should be able to get the KI - have not searched (yet) for where to get the KI

In you reply to Rick you said the leach solution is made with D-water KI (potassium iodide) & iodine at a ratio of 10 - 4 - 1

so that's a 40% KI 10% iodine solution

As I said - here in the U.S. the iodine is VERY restricted

So - will the KI by its self work - or do you need the KI in combination with the iodine for it to work

Next question - how due you get your gold back after it has gone into solution

Edit to add; - the KI can be found bought on amazon :arrow: https://www.amazon.com/Potassium-Iodide-Purity-Crystals-Granules/dp/B008D8161I#detail-bullets

Kurt
 
kurtak said:
Hi Pat

Just did a search on potassium iodide (is potassium iodide a restricted chemical) & from what I can see the KI is not restricted like iodine is so should be able to get the KI - have not searched (yet) for where to get the KI

In you reply to Rick you said the leach solution is made with D-water KI (potassium iodide) & iodine at a ratio of 10 - 4 - 1

so that's a 40% KI 10% iodine solution

As I said - here in the U.S. the iodine is VERY restricted

So - will the KI by its self work - or do you need the KI in combination with the iodine for it to work

Next question - how due you get your gold back after it has gone into solution

Edit to add; - the KI can be found bought on amazon :arrow: https://www.amazon.com/Potassium-Iodide-Purity-Crystals-Granules/dp/B008D8161I#detail-bullets

Kurt
I got my iodine/iodide from ebay.

Have not worked out the ratio or concentration yet so I am not advocating this for use yet. Just want to conduct some trials.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/250-Grams-99-8-Elemental-Iodin-Crystals-Granule-For-Lab-Chemicals-Kit-TOP/333281725593?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Potassium-Iodide-Crystal-Powder-High-Purity-USP-Grade-100gm-250gm-500gm-1Kg-/401772742335

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Kurt. I saw some sellers on eBay com selling iodine crystals in the USA. I will look up auction number later on.
If you can not get iodine there is a workaround. You can get iodine from iodide. All you need is hydrochloric acid and 3% hydrogen peroxide solution.
Dissolve potassium iodide in distilled water add HCl and add peroxide. Then evaporate solution and you will have iodine crystals on the bottom.
If you Google topic there are a lot of tutorials and videos on the subject.
Dropping gold with ascorbic. Then rejuvenate solution with peroxide added in drops.
Check our member owltech videos he did quite a few of them concerning iodine-iodide process.
 
Very interesting.

Any idea of how much gold a given volume can hold? Are there signs to watch for that indicate the solution is reaching its load point?
 
Gold dropped. Beaker is main leach solution bottle is gold off wash water.
Leach will be rejuvenated and reused again.
 

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patnor1011 said:
Gold dropped. Beaker is main leach solution bottle is gold off wash water.
Leach will be rejuvenated and reused again.
Really awesome. What did you use to precipitate with.

To rejuvenate is it just add more iodide? And at what ratio?

Thsnks for sharing.

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Hi Pat, congratulations!
Can you tell us what have you used for dropping the gold?
Thank you!
 
FrugalRefiner said:
otb said:
Hi Pat, congratulations!
Can you tell us what have you used for dropping the gold?
Thank you!

He mentioned it earlier in the thread.
patnor1011 said:
Dropping gold with ascorbic. Then rejuvenate solution with peroxide added in drops.

Dave
Thanks Dave!

I really should have reread the entire thread.


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Thank you, Dave!
Well, I did read it all and a few others in this regards (Iodine) and I think that this thread here is the only achievable for me...
I did see the vitamin C, which is a divine answer to my prayers, however, I would kindly ask for some details about the procedure (cold or warm solution, how much / stop when x happens, etc.)
If someone else is able to share, will gladly share some beers as between friends.
Thank you very much in advance!
 
It would be expensive to go for beer to Romania I may have to postpone it till retirement and when personal jetpacks will be available :mrgreen: :D

As you can see on my videos there was no heating involved other than there was about 18 degree celsius outside. Leach worked quite fast, it stripped gold in under a minute. It is actually easy to observe when stripping is done, sometimes when unsure use wash container with a little distilled water. When you see gold is gone then it is done and you can move on another piece or batch.
I used 2 containers I made for my crude demonstration. They were bottom part of a plastic bottle where I put a few hundred holes with a hot screwdriver. I put one in - it was moving up and down in leach and while I prepared - filled other one first one was done stripping so I took it out and put second in main leach solution. Then by the time I washed stripped material in my wash container and refilled it with another batch second one in main solution was done stipping. Sometimes I could not keep up as I only put few items in for stripping to make sure leach will get to all parts and strip everything.
You can use stir plate - then you will not need motor to move material up and down just hang it is a basket or small fishnet bag so material is suspended in solution but stir bar is working so solution is agitated and flowing all around your material.

I used ascorbic you can get in any health shop or gym or ebay. I estimated up to 2 grams of gold in solution (that was over-optimistic) and used double of that of ascorbic.

To rejuvenate I added couple drops of lye to raise ph and added 32% strong peroxide in small increments with dropper while stirring solution. I also added about 2g of iodine to solution to compensate for iodine lost in wash water container.
 
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