Freind of mine just start this besness in Morocco .he use to sand all he's computer scrap to Europe now he decided to do it him self .he just start the company in Casablanca he purchase a big furnace can go up to one ton of metal in one time when I visited him he showed me this scrap he made after melting and the analyses .now iam trying to figure out what to do step by step .I know nitric 50 water first but he need a big place to hold the acid what it showing in picture it's to small .he asked me 2 years ago about the prosses for this I told him go with electrolytes fro Germany he didn't listen to me now .it's defrent.subject he already melt about 2 tons .and they still working .any ideas .iam thinking nitric to take copper out and then AR
Any good ideas how to process computer scrap big scale
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Martijn
Well-known member
Nitric on melted e-waste scrap bars is a waste of nitric and the environment.
You'll have to dissolve 99.5% of copper and other base metals to get to 0.5% gold and a bit of precious metals, max.
Creating tons of chemical waste.
You could go for a big copper sulphate cell and collect the PM's in the slimes.
The purified copper can be sold.
That's how the big guys do it. Takes a lot of electricity though.
But those lumps of metal look like there are too much other base metals in there. You need 95% or better copper purity for such a cell.
Some of the basemetals can be smelted off into the flux before you pour anode bars for the copper cell.
That's a whole different art, Pyrometallurgy.
Milling the boards fine and separating on a shaker table could get the gold out in a much more concentrated mix, leaving most of the copper ready to sell, and the concentrates can be leached in acid, or smelted and cupelled to recover the PM's.
Here's a guy on youbtube who has very educational videos on the whole process and smelting experiments you can learn a lot from.
He also sells the equipment and maybe even comes to learn you operate it.
I have no buisiness relation with him.
Just love the guy.
This is just the video for you:
What goes in to the furnace? Milled, magnetic- and gravity separated and incinerated metal concentrates or just whole cuircuit boards and transformers? The last way is also very polluting and can result in loosing gold, literally going up in smoke.
Thanks for using periods, btw. You're getting there. Now try an enter between sentences sometimes
You'll have to dissolve 99.5% of copper and other base metals to get to 0.5% gold and a bit of precious metals, max.
Creating tons of chemical waste.
You could go for a big copper sulphate cell and collect the PM's in the slimes.
The purified copper can be sold.
That's how the big guys do it. Takes a lot of electricity though.
But those lumps of metal look like there are too much other base metals in there. You need 95% or better copper purity for such a cell.
Some of the basemetals can be smelted off into the flux before you pour anode bars for the copper cell.
That's a whole different art, Pyrometallurgy.
Milling the boards fine and separating on a shaker table could get the gold out in a much more concentrated mix, leaving most of the copper ready to sell, and the concentrates can be leached in acid, or smelted and cupelled to recover the PM's.
Here's a guy on youbtube who has very educational videos on the whole process and smelting experiments you can learn a lot from.
He also sells the equipment and maybe even comes to learn you operate it.
I have no buisiness relation with him.
Just love the guy. This is just the video for you:
What goes in to the furnace? Milled, magnetic- and gravity separated and incinerated metal concentrates or just whole cuircuit boards and transformers? The last way is also very polluting and can result in loosing gold, literally going up in smoke.
Thanks for using periods, btw. You're getting there. Now try an enter between sentences sometimes
Martijn
Well-known member
By the way, what on earth did you stick in the sand to make those casting shapes?
Poor horse..
Poor horse..
Nitric on melted e-waste scrap bars is a waste of nitric and the environment.
You'll have to dissolve 99.5% of copper and other base metals to get to 0.5% gold and a bit of precious metals, max.
Creating tons of chemical waste.
You could go for a big copper sulphate cell and collect the PM's in the slimes.
The purified copper can be sold.
That's how the big guys do it. Takes a lot of electricity though.
But those lumps of metal look like there are too much other base metals in there. You need 95% or better copper purity for such a cell.
Some of the basemetals can be smelted off into the flux before you pour anode bars for the copper cell.
That's a whole different art, Pyrometallurgy.
Milling the boards fine and separating on a shaker table could get the gold out in a much more concentrated mix, leaving most of the copper ready to sell, and the concentrates can be leached in acid, or smelted and cupelled to recover the PM's.
Here's a guy on youbtube who has very educational videos on the whole process and smelting experiments you can learn a lot from.
He also sells the equipment and maybe even comes to learn you operate it.
I have no buisiness relation with him.
This is just the video for you:
What goes in to the furnace? Milled, magnetic- and gravity separated and incinerated metal concentrates or just whole cuircuit boards and transformers? The last way is also very polluting and can result in loosing gold, literally going up in smoke.
Thanks for using periods, btw. You're getting there. Now try an enter between sentences sometimes
Nitric on melted e-waste scrap bars is a waste of nitric and the environment.
You'll have to dissolve 99.5% of copper and other base metals to get to 0.5% gold and a bit of precious metals, max.
Creating tons of chemical waste.
You could go for a big copper sulphate cell and collect the PM's in the slimes.
The purified copper can be sold.
That's how the big guys do it. Takes a lot of electricity though.
But those lumps of metal look like there are too much other base metals in there. You need 95% or better copper purity for such a cell.
Some of the basemetals can be smelted off into the flux before you pour anode bars for the copper cell.
That's a whole different art, Pyrometallurgy.
Milling the boards fine and separating on a shaker table could get the gold out in a much more concentrated mix, leaving most of the copper ready to sell, and the concentrates can be leached in acid, or smelted and cupelled to recover the PM's.
Here's a guy on youbtube who has very educational videos on the whole process and smelting experiments you can learn a lot from.
He also sells the equipment and maybe even comes to learn you operate it.
I have no buisiness relation with him.
This is just the video for you:
What goes in to the furnace? Milled, magnetic- and gravity separated and incinerated metal concentrates or just whole cuircuit boards and transformers? The last way is also very polluting and can result in loosing gold, literally going up in smoke.
Thanks for using periods, btw. You're getting there. Now try an enter between sentences sometimes
View attachment 51165
Thank you for your help .I have to figure it out .how I am going to do this . it's to much metals .if you read the analyses.its around 75 Percent copper .he's got 2 tons already . gold not bad .but he need another analyses .your method looks great .yes to get rid of copper. need so much nitric and bigger setup .iwill some pictures next time of the furnace.
Not me whene i went to visit them in company they already start melting .I prefer shots in water.By the way, what on earth did you stick in the sand to make those casting shapes?
Poor horse..
At the volume of copper it would make sense to add extra copper and process in a copper cell. The gold, silver and other precious metals seems to be minimal. Go for the copper as business and the precious metals as a bonus. Or use copper to break even and other metals as profit margin.
He's got a lot of scrap I will take some pictures of the furnace and the place .he's use to send every thing to Belgium to a refining company containers full every month it's big besness .before he start this company in Morocco I told him its not easy to refine .now I think he need more sotup and good way to do this . Iwill figure it out your idea and ma
Your idea and Martgin looks great .for me I can't deal with so much refining . Iwill help him get started
Nitric on melted e-waste scrap bars is a waste of nitric and the environment.
You'll have to dissolve 99.5% of copper and other base metals to get to 0.5% gold and a bit of precious metals, max.
Creating tons of chemical waste.
You could go for a big copper sulphate cell and collect the PM's in the slimes.
The purified copper can be sold.
That's how the big guys do it. Takes a lot of electricity though.
But those lumps of metal look like there are too much other base metals in there. You need 95% or better copper purity for such a cell.
Some of the basemetals can be smelted off into the flux before you pour anode bars for the copper cell.
That's a whole different art, Pyrometallurgy.
Milling the boards fine and separating on a shaker table could get the gold out in a much more concentrated mix, leaving most of the copper ready to sell, and the concentrates can be leached in acid, or smelted and cupelled to recover the PM's.
Here's a guy on youbtube who has very educational videos on the whole process and smelting experiments you can learn a lot from.
He also sells the equipment and maybe even comes to learn you operate it.
I have no buisiness relation with him.
This is just the video for you:
What goes in to the furnace? Milled, magnetic- and gravity separated and incinerated metal concentrates or just whole cuircuit boards and transformers? The last way is also very polluting and can result in loosing gold, literally going up in smoke.
Thanks for using periods, btw. You're getting there. Now try an enter between sentences sometimes
View attachment 51165
Very interesting video . I may contact him it's very interesting thank you
I will see if he can do it .copper sel electrolysis is that correct
I will see next week how I can try it there is some company's in Europe can do the setup or if we can do small setup first and try it .all the refining I did before just as hobby for me .not as besness . And iam following defrent story in some rare menerals .I worked a lot with A R . But just small refining for tests
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Won't nitric on that alloy turn the 7% tin into a wet mass of gray tin(IV) paste that will be difficult to separate from the values?
The sulfate electrolysis approach sounds more promising to me, it should be able to purify the copper and extract the values as anode slimes.
The sulfate electrolysis approach sounds more promising to me, it should be able to purify the copper and extract the values as anode slimes.
Thank you very much .shark and Martgin said same thing .iam looking to try it .I think that's the best option .thank you very much sir
Burning e waste in large rotary furnaces is definitely not the way. Trying to recover relatively small amount of precious metals from large amount of base metals is not economically feasible. I suppose the processor did not think this through and invested in large furnaces. Now it appears he is sitting with mixed metal bars and don't have a clue how to turn it into a revenue stream.
There is a reason why companies ship their prepared e waste to proper processing and refining companies; they lose a little and make money. When you attempt to do it in house and you don't have or don't hire expertise, the losses will add up.
There is a reason why companies ship their prepared e waste to proper processing and refining companies; they lose a little and make money. When you attempt to do it in house and you don't have or don't hire expertise, the losses will add up.
Yes exactly what happened .I warned him couple years ago .that not easy to do it your self .he didn't listen .and yes he need some one very expert .and electrolysis . He's got his licence from the government and build big place .the furnace and some equipment from italy.the furnace it's very big at least 500 k just the furnace .I will place a picture some time .iwill try to help him get started some how.he was making a lot of money sending the stuff to Europe .
