Books on electrolytically refining copper, any suggestions?

[NobleMetalWorks]

I am looking for a good solid book on electrolytically refining copper from basic to advanced.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Scott

 

[jimdoc]

Did you check internet archive?

http://archive.org/search.php?query=refining%20copper

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

Did you check internet archive?

http://archive.org/search.php?query=refining%20copper

Thank you, but I am looking for suggestions on what books would be the best to read.

I appreciate the info though, thank you.

Scott

 

[goldsilverpro]

Concerning the basics of the entire recovery and electrorefining process, this book is quite good. The electorefining section is Chapter 16
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=16&ved=0CEwQFjAFOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fuctm.edu%2Fdepartments%2FMCMT%2FBG%2FE-library%2FExtractive_Metallurgy_of_Copper_-_G._W._DAVENPORT.pdf&ei=zAlfUIevJIX02QX054HICg&usg=AFQjCNG_KVR0I40EmAPtjZwuQcNjCUrYYg&cad=rja

Copper processing is probably one of the most written about subjects and much of this is on the internet.

 

[rusty]

Concerning the basics of the entire recovery and electrorefining process, this book is quite good. The electorefining section is Chapter 16
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=16&ved=0CEwQFjAFOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fuctm.edu%2Fdepartments%2FMCMT%2FBG%2FE-library%2FExtractive_Metallurgy_of_Copper_-_G._W._DAVENPORT.pdf&ei=zAlfUIevJIX02QX054HICg&usg=AFQjCNG_KVR0I40EmAPtjZwuQcNjCUrYYg&cad=rja

Copper processing is probably one of the most written about subjects and much of this is on the internet.

Yes I agree plenty of books written on the topic refining copper, the link you have provided is perhaps the most up to date. Very Interesting read, thanks GSP. I have already found some useful information that I will apply to my next cell.

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

Concerning the basics of the entire recovery and electrorefining process, this book is quite good. The electorefining section is Chapter 16
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=16&ved=0CEwQFjAFOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fuctm.edu%2Fdepartments%2FMCMT%2FBG%2FE-library%2FExtractive_Metallurgy_of_Copper_-_G._W._DAVENPORT.pdf&ei=zAlfUIevJIX02QX054HICg&usg=AFQjCNG_KVR0I40EmAPtjZwuQcNjCUrYYg&cad=rja

Copper processing is probably one of the most written about subjects and much of this is on the internet.

Thank you GSP

You are right about there being a ton of information on the internet about refining copper. It could be said that there is so much information, that finding the correct reading material can be challenging. Thank you for posting this book. I'll read it, if anyone has a copy they would part with I might be interested in buying it.

Scott

 

[rusty]

Concerning the basics of the entire recovery and electrorefining process, this book is quite good. The electorefining section is Chapter 16
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=16&ved=0CEwQFjAFOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fuctm.edu%2Fdepartments%2FMCMT%2FBG%2FE-library%2FExtractive_Metallurgy_of_Copper_-_G._W._DAVENPORT.pdf&ei=zAlfUIevJIX02QX054HICg&usg=AFQjCNG_KVR0I40EmAPtjZwuQcNjCUrYYg&cad=rja

Copper processing is probably one of the most written about subjects and much of this is on the internet.

Thank you GSP

You are right about there being a ton of information on the internet about refining copper. It could be said that there is so much information, that finding the correct reading material can be challenging. Thank you for posting this book. I'll read it, if anyone has a copy they would part with I might be interested in buying it.

Scott

Your in luck, this book is currently listed on ebay at $265.25
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Extractive-...337?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item2c681eca39

Abes Books has one for $156.00 http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/9780080440293/

 

[goldsilverpro]

It's always nice to get a $156-$265 book for free. I had no idea when I posted the link. I just did a Google search and the pdf popped up. I looked at it and it looked good.

 

[Lou]

Rusty,

You're basically the forum bibliographer. 8)

 

[voeckel]

Scott,

I found this article yesterday. I think it might help.

All,
it's a good article, explaining plating using electrolysis. If someone wants to keep track of thickness of the plated material, there are also formulas so that you can mathematically check your material's thickness, or how your setup should be, etc.

http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0223_plate/index.html

Not a book, i know, but it helped me to get to the next level of understanding.

Peter

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

Scott,

I found this article yesterday. I think it might help.

All,
it's a good article, explaining plating using electrolysis. If someone wants to keep track of thickness of the plated material, there are also formulas so that you can mathematically check your material's thickness, or how your setup should be, etc.

http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0223_plate/index.html

Not a book, i know, but it helped me to get to the next level of understanding.

Peter

I actually picked up a few books recently, I'm reading "Industrial Electrochemistry" by Derek Pletcher and Franc C. Walsh, second edition. It's older, but so many of the better books are.

Scott

 

[nickvc]

Scott I think I know what your thinking and I wish you luck on the task ahead, refining copper follows similar rules as silver, you need very high grade feed to get decent copper deposits and the slimes will be where your values will be left but too much contamination ruins the deposits and the electrolyte. Harold I know tried it , so did I , but I had little success in getting decent copper deposits due to the other contaminants such as zinc, nickel and tin. If you are going down this route I'd advise 98% + and probably 99%+ copper to start especially if your going to try and run e scrap and want to be able to sell the copper at decent prices, this means you need big cells and lots of space to recover the values as the biproduct.

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

I have some copper/silver material I was interested in refining. The pieces were spun weld together, so not alloyed. I thought that there might be a method to selectively dissolve the copper or the silver alone. I actually found several different ways of doing this, some better than others, but to alloy the metal to run as a copper proposition and collect the silver as anode slimes was not the way to do it. It was right around 5% silver.

If I ever do move into a large place, I want to set up to refine copper on a small scale, and silver is my main interest so electrochimistry is right up my ally. But since I originally posted this, I have found many other processes that work as good if not better, and cost far less. It seems to me that refiners tend to focus on the electro and hydro metallurgy, but not the pyrometallurgy. So lately my interest has been to become adept at pyrometallurgy. Currently I am using a flux to separate different types of material so I have a finale product I can cast into an anode bar and refine as a silver proposition. Sometimes, by just simply apply the correct process, you can save all kinds of time, energy and end up recovering all of the values instead of some.

Scott

 

[nickvc]

Scott I'm not sure of the quantities you have of the copper silver material but another way to recover your values is to use it to cement any silver nitrate solutions you may produce, that way you get the silver back for free.

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

Scott I'm not sure of the quantities you have of the copper silver material but another way to recover your values is to use it to cement any silver nitrate solutions you may produce, that way you get the silver back for free.

You're right, when I was right in the middle of this, I think it was you that made the suggestion before, and I have used it to good effect since. But the amount of material is in the thousands of lbs, and only about 5% silver, so for me to refine it myself with my current setup just wouldn't have been plausible, and to scale up to be able to process that amount of material would cost too much, so refining it through someone else is my best option.

Scott

 

[Westerngs]

Your best bet is to take this to a copper smelter, someone like Freeport McMoran.

I can't think of a single silver refiner that will want your material at 5% Ag. Maybe SIPI?

 

[NobleMetalWorks]

Yeah, SiPi would most likely be the best bet.

It's less expensive and far easier to melt the material, upgrade the copper and run as a copper proposition rather than a silver proposition, so long as the refiner who is doing the work, has copper tanks to handle the volume. So you are right, SiPi would probably be the refiner of choice.

Scott

 

[Tinker Terry]

I am working on a similar projectRather than recovering gold from computer pins by acid, I am thinking that the ammount of acid used to recover the gold could be reduced immensely if the copper could be removed first as it is probably 90% ormore of the pins. So far I have managed to turn any metal into a sludge using AC current. Te plated brass shielding metal found for eg. around series ports very quickly sheds its plating and then the brass becomes coper before it slags off. Right now I have an electrolysis experiment running that seems to be working the way I hoped. I'm useing a terra cotta pot for a filter between electrodes. Got the idea from something I read online about refining copper using ceramic filters. But when I examined filters, all the info I could find online was about water filters. Then I found out that ceramic water filters have silver in the to kill germs or something, so I suspect that would interfere with the electrolysis, so I am trying it with the common garden variety flower pot sort of thing.

 

[nickvc]

If I remember correctly the ceramic filters are made by Coors but I believe you can use a non glazed ceramic pot, the downside is that the proper filters are made to contain certain materials whilst the unglazed pot will not be so selective so I'd suggest testing the deposits outside of your pot to make sure no values are getting through. In honesty I think the AP process would be easier and needs little to no attention and does exactly the same thing, it removes the copper leaving the gold and a little undissolved copper, the other advantage is that AP can be used time and time again following the methods to rejuvenate the solution so it again uses little more acid after initial setting up.
Another method would be to use a sulphuric cell to dissolve the gold and leave the copper behind but that's a lot more complicated to set up as it would ideally need a barrel to constantly expose the pins to the current and acid and concentrated sulphuric is not the best to have splashing around.

 

[solar_plasma]

Tank you for sharing! Those books are the ultimate kick for me right now!

Extractive Metallurgy of Copper is fantastic!!!! It fits to all my experiences with my CuSO4-cell and, that's the best, explains the WHY. Lovely! I am looking forward to great success with it. Though it might be the best solution to melt my heavy plated stuff to good anode plates.