computer boards micro powder(pulverization)

[arthur kierski]

i received these boards in powder ,to leach and recuperate ag,pd and gold-----
i need some help and coments of how one would deal with this powder----without incineration
thanks for the moment

Arthur

 

[arthur kierski]

as i did not get any sugestions,i decided to start experiencing----if i get some results,it would be very good for me and other members---instead of cherry picking the components and then selling the barren boards----we all could do our own small refineries and extract ,au,pd,ag without much problems.
i already began,and already know what not to do-----
regards.
Arthur

 

[rewalston]

Looks like you've learned something already...."what not to do". Looking forward to your discoveries.

Rusty

 

[patnor1011]

Thumbs up. I will watch this place Arthur.

 

[niteliteone]

arthur,
Did you get a picture of the powder so we can see what you are working with?

I am interested in what you are doing but I don't feel I have enough experience to be of any help for now.

Please keep us posted on this project and do show pictures of you processess

Thanks
Tom C.

 

[butcher]

Arthur,
When you said (without incineration), that stopped my suggestion dead in its track, as that is in most all of my processes with electronic scrap.
To me that is the most important step to dealing with some of these metals, like solder (tin). Once it is dealt with everything else seems easy to me.

I am not talking about burning everything, but at some point incineration in my mind would be needed, even if it was later in the process of incinerating the sludge (metal salts).

Sometimes my materials get multiple incinerations in the stages of recovery.

 

[arthur kierski]

Butcher---this powder is pulverized boards with all the components(smd,chips,flatpacks and all)--if iincinerated,in my ambiental conditions,i will go to jail because of the terrible stench that (horrible ,terrible smells) and dangerous that will come out of these incinerations-----that is the reason that i wrote no incineration-----this does not mean that after the leaches and cementations,we cannot do the normal incinerations that we are used to do------i incinerate many kilos of chips after i learned from Partnors and Samuels the marvelous experiments that they develloped------
as for fotos of the material, i do not have a camera and do not know how to transfer the fotos to the forum----i already saw fotos in our forum of this powder---I think from Scweirs----which already described a method---which i think worked for him----- Butcher,in my very beginning,i already noticed that it will not be hard to filtrate the leach(one of the reasons for incineration)
i hope that i am in the right track---and wont be shy to ask you and all for any help as problems arises--------
regards,
Arthur

 

[skippy]

Arthur, it seems in it's current state the powder would be fairly adaptable to a fluidized bed incineration. With some caustic scrubbing of the exhaust gas for HCL and HBr, I would think it would be pretty odorless, as long as you maintain oxygen balance. If you have a lot of the powder it might be something to consider.

 

[butcher]

Your leaches will be dirty, and filtering a challenge (letting settle over days, can help to filter solutions, Charmin plugs or press filters).

You may try something like magnet to try and separate any iron or steel filings.

A warmed acid peroxide solution to help remove base metals (tin, copper…) and make water soluble lead chloride salts.
Settling, filtering, rejuvenating the solution and reusing the acid peroxide solutions (with small additions of new HCl, and peroxide).

Boiling the powders in hot water (allowing powder to settle while keeping hot) to remove lead chloride.

neutralizing incineration (oxidize more tin and base metals), rinse, HCL boil, dilute and decant (base metals), more boiling hot water washes for lead, bring Ph to 7 to help make table salt out of metal chlorides, rinse well hot water, incinerate to help remove chlorides (previous acid), and then treat in nitric acid, (leaching silver palladium) and base metals, then aqua regia leach for values like gold and possible platinum.

And I did not go into any details just kind of an overview of how I would try this.

Basically kind of the same thing I have said before doing the whole process from start to finish in the casserole dish as much as possible.


Testing of all solutions, settling and filtering methods, cementations of values from dirty solutions, and other recovery tricks will be needed. Before doing the refining of these metals, as these metals are removed the fibergalss is also seperated, (an inceneration up front can put much of the fibers of the fiberglass into glass balls, or later incenerations of what fibers get through process will also)

 

[butcher]

two barrel stove, lower barrel stove, burning wood, or what ever fuel, and on this bed of heat is a panfull of materials being cooked, the fumes from this barrel stove go up the flue into the upper stove, here we have a hot bed of coals, burning up the gases from the lower stove, a flue pipe burner (fuel gas and air fed burner) in exhaust pipe section of thick walled pipe, this after burns any gases or smoke that made it this far.

not saying try it.