AR acid very thick

[Jeffmontgomery]

I have a batch of aqua regia made with hydrochloric acid and "subzero" nitric acid safe alternative. I droped a few pounds of CPU's in and let them set overnight. It's about 90 here and the setup is open air. The CPUs are a mix with a half pound of fiberglass or some type of plastic and the rest are ceramic. When I filtered the acid out it looks very thick and very dark brown in color. It looks like thick chocolate milk. The ph is about 13 but when I put urea in it does not fizz. Should I add some HCL and dilute or something else. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[maynman1751]

The ph is about 13

You sure about that ?

 

[jimdoc]

Wow problems with subzero? I have never seen that before, usually Shor is spot on with their clear instructions and customer support!

Jim

95% of this forums newbie first postings with problems could have been avoided had they found this forum first and did some homework! And avoided the Shor problems.

 

[Jeffmontgomery]

The ph test strips turn very dark brown so I'm thinking it's very high

 

[Jeffmontgomery]

It's hard to test because it's so thick. If I look at the color where the wet meets the dry it has a dark red and that would mean a ph of 1. I feel stuck with this because of this thick acid. I know I have gold in there but can't get to it!

 

[Geo]

you can dilute the solution with water. dilution will not hurt or hinder at this point. i would dilute solution/water 50/50 and test with stannous chloride. chances are theres no gold in your solution. if you have no knowledge of the process beyond the mixing of the chemicals, you have no idea about how to deal with AR and too much base metal. if there was ANY,ANY base metal left after the dissolution, i can guaranty you have no gold in solution.

 

[nickvc]

Jeff as you can gather the guys are a bit hacked off with these problems, it's not you it's the supplier who just says add this to that and Hey Presto you have your gold, they made huge profits on the chemicals they supplied and have no intention of now helping you.
My advice is to cover safely all your chemicals and reactions and place somewhere safe and then do yourself a favour and download and read C.M.Hoke, it's free off many members signature lines, take the guided tour round the forum, visit our own Lazersteves site where there's videos to watch and buy and worth every cent and pay particular attention to the safety section. You have made several serious errors, the first buying from Shor , the rest you can learn to correct with a period of studying and reading here on the forum. Remember you can't lose your values unless you throw them out !

Welcome to the forum.