Copper coil with nitric acid and AR

[Ayham Hafez]

I noticed that some copper coils on some telecom boards not effected at all by nitric acid or AR, attached a one after leaching in nitric and AR, anyone knows its components?

 

[Yggdrasil]

I noticed that some copper coils on some telecom boards not effected at all by nitric acid or AR, attached a one after leaching in nitric and AR, anyone knows its components?

It is an inductor coil, and it do not react since it is coated in clear plastic.

 

[Ayham Hafez]

It is an inductor coil, and it do not react since it is coated in clear plastic.

Tried to burn it to remove plastic but it seems that its not coated

 

[Yggdrasil]

Tried to burn it to remove plastic but it seems that its not coated

Remove it from the magnetic core and scratch it, then try a drop of Nitric on the scratch.

 

[Ayham Hafez]

Remove it from the magnetic core and scratch it, then try a drop of Nitric on the scratch.

Yes you alright, the coated plastic seems not burn easily

 

[hoytSmith]

Lacquer is another material used for insulating pre-wound copper wire. The briggt green spots would result from defects in the coating. Consider dissolving the coating in a solvent (paint thinner, alcohol) before proceeding.

 

[Martijn]

I noticed that some copper coils on some telecom boards not effected at all by nitric acid or AR, attached a one after leaching in nitric and AR, anyone knows its components?

It's copper. Why do you want dissolve that? Toss them in the transformer bin. No profit to be made by dissolving copper.
If you want clean red copper, use a solvent as suggested. Not worth the time imo unless if you have a lot if them.

 

[Ayham Hafez]

It's copper. Why do you want dissolve that? Toss them in the transformer bin. No profit to be made by dissolving copper.
If you want clean red copper, use a solvent as suggested. Not worth the time imo unless if you have a lot if them.

I don't want to dissolve them,but by mistake I soaked boards into AR and it was attached to it,after washing I noticed that it was in the AR and its not effected

 

[Yggdrasil]

I don't want to dissolve them,but by mistake I soaked boards into AR and it was attached to it,after washing I noticed that it was in the AR and its not effected

Why are you soaking whole boards in acid?

 

[Martijn]

I don't want to dissolve them,but by mistake I soaked boards into AR and it was attached to it,after washing I noticed that it was in the AR and its not effected

I find it very useful when people share their mistakes so we can learn from them. Hat's off to you.
I also hope you will analyse and correct the steps that led to this mistake. I am curious and would love to know from a safety point of view.

Another gut feeling I have is when acids are really cheap and not restricted in any way, the users have less respect for it and treat it as water. With a bunch of the environmental issues attached. pollution is usually noticed when it's too late. Better prevent that clean up.

 

[Ayham Hafez]

Why are you soaking whole boards in acid?

Some PCBs ar full plated with gold specially RF telecom boards, when use AP or nitric to get gold foils I got less amount of gold, so I prefer to dissolve everything to better results.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Some PCBs ar full plated with gold specially RF telecom boards, when use AP or nitric to get gold foils I got less amount of gold, so I prefer to dissolve everything to better results.

How do you treat those large amounts of waste acids?

 

[Ayham Hafez]

I find it very useful when people share their mistakes so we can learn from them. Hat's off to you.
I also hope you will analyse and correct the steps that led to this mistake. I am curious and would love to know from a safety point of view.

Another gut feeling I have is when acids are really cheap and not restricted in any way, the users have less respect for it and treat it as water. With a bunch of the environmental issues attached. pollution is usually noticed when it's too late. Better prevent that clean up.

Yes I agree, but some kind of PCBs as mentioned above have gold plated and I hate to lose some of foils when using AP or nitric, BTW I decided to stop using AP since always some gold dissolved into it and I missed it, I Know that AP will drop gold once it satura

How do you treat those large amounts of waste acids?

I have been asked many times same question in GRF and like that cause this is a good indication that most of the forum member care about environmen, I use the simple known steps,cement with copper to get PGMs,then cement with iron to get copper then naturalize the waste solution with NaOH

 

[Martijn]

Yes I agree, but some kind of PCBs as mentioned above have gold plated and I hate to lose some of foils when using AP or nitric, BTW I decided to stop using AP since always some gold dissolved into it and I missed it, I Know that AP will drop gold once it satura

Well AP does not dissolve gold, and any gold in solution will cement right back out, not waiting for copper saturation or anything. So your assumption there is false. Pd is another story in AP. But we're talking Au here right?
HCl plus H2O2 does dissolve gold, that's why you should leave it out of AP. Yes, take the P from the AP. It works better for those not sufficiently understanding the chemistry behind it.

Waste treatment:
Neutralizing the solution will leave it at pH 7, (neutral) with a whole bunch of chemical toxic salts left in it.
Raising the pH in steps, filtering in between and doing so up to pH 11 will ensure the chemical salts are pushed out to below acceptable emission levels for disposal.
So what do you do? Neutralizing or proper waste treatment? meaning: Disposing of crystal clear filtered water with a pH of 11 or 14? And bringing the hydroxides to the waste treatment facility or a similar?

 

[Ayham Hafez]

Well AP does not dissolve gold, and any gold in solution will cement right back out, not waiting for copper saturation or anything. So your assumption there is false. Pd is another story in AP. But we're talking Au here right?
HCl plus H2O2 does dissolve gold, that's why you should leave it out of AP. Yes, take the P from the AP. It works better for those not sufficiently understanding the chemistry behind it.

Waste treatment:
Neutralizing the solution will leave it at pH 7, (neutral) with a whole bunch of chemical toxic salts left in it.
Raising the pH in steps, filtering in between and doing so up to pH 11 will ensure the chemical salts are pushed out to below acceptable emission levels for disposal.
So what do you do? Neutralizing or proper waste treatment? meaning: Disposing of crystal clear filtered water with a pH of 11 or 14? And bringing the hydroxides to the waste treatment facility or a similar?

Using AP without P to get gold foil is a nightmare, we need more than one month to do it with air bubbler,its not feasible at all for production business.

After cementing copper with iron, I filter the solution to get copper,after that I increase the PH of the solution most of the time to 14 then decant it in a fiber filters for couple days to get all salts after that I decant the waste solution in the sewage system and trash the fiber filters with salts cause I don't have space to save them and don't know how to get value from them.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Using AP without P to get gold foil is a nightmare, we need more than one month to do it with air bubbler,its not feasible at all for production business.

After cementing copper with iron, I filter the solution to get copper,after that I increase the PH of the solution most of the time to 14 then decant it in a fiber filters for couple days to get all salts after that I decant the waste solution in the sewage system and trash the fiber filters with salts cause I don't have space to save them and don't know how to get value from them.

If it takes that long I believe you are doing something wrong.
It might not be suitable for production scenarios, that is correct.
But neither are wet processing.
For production there is only one scenario that works properly and that is smelting.
Much less waste and much higher through put

 

[Ayham Hafez]

If it takes that long I believe you are doing something wrong.
It might not be suitable for production scenarios, that is correct.
But neither are wet processing.
For production there is only one scenario that works properly and that is smelting.
Much less waste and much higher through put

Yes sure, am trying to get some skills in fluxing and smelting, before minutes I was in the workshop finalizing the small pyrolysis reactor,hope it will help me with shifting to pyrometallurgy track.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

After cementing copper with iron, I filter the solution to get copper,after that I increase the PH of the solution most of the time to 14 then decant it in a fiber filters for couple days to get all salts after that I decant the waste solution in the sewage system and trash the fiber filters with salts cause I don't have space to save them and don't know how to get value from them.

There are several problems with your process.

First, there are metals that will precipitate as you raise the pH, but then they will redissolve as the pH goes higher. To capture them all, you need to filter the precipitates off at a couple of stages as you raise the pH.

Second, if you are pouring the solutions into the sewage system as you describe, you are pouring toxic metals into the system as I described above.

Third, throwing the fiber filters with the filtered salts into the trash means they will leach out in a landfill somewhere, further poisoning the environment.

Please read Dealing with Waste. The proper procedure is described there.

Dave

 

[Ayham Hafez]

There are several problems with your process.

First, there are metals that will precipitate as you raise the pH, but then they will redissolve as the pH goes higher. To capture them all, you need to filter the precipitates off at a couple of stages as you raise the pH.

Second, if you are pouring the solutions into the sewage system as you describe, you are pouring toxic metals into the system as I described above.

Third, throwing the fiber filters with the filtered salts into the trash means they will leach out in a landfill somewhere, further poisoning the environment.

Please read Dealing with Waste. The proper procedure is described there.

Dave

What is the proper way to do with last filter fiber and salts?

 

[Yggdrasil]

What is the proper way to do with last filter fiber and salts?

Read the link Dave gave you.