Dust after nitric acid
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The slag will be a glass of metal borates, metal silicates, the metals that form these (metal)-glass slags are the base metals and are generally of no concern, as the purpose of your smelting process is to separate the base metals from the more desired metals making the unwanted metals to form slag and the more wanted metals to collect into a metal which can be separated from the glass base metals slags of glass borates or silicates...
you can have prills of values or small beads of metal captured within the glass structure if improperly fluxed or improper smelting procedures...
Crush the glass slag, use water and pan it, to separate the dust or crushed-glass for beads of metal or values by gravity separation, the crushed glass powders can then be dried which can be re-smelted with the use of a collector metal (lead or silver...)and proper fluxing of the melt (oxidizing the base metals back into glass and reducing or melting the values with the collector metal to form a cone bead in the bottom of the cone mold, the small beads if any can be refined further...
Smelting is a process of oxidizing or reducing certain metals at temperatures high enough to make the charge molten, in a chemical process of fluxing where not only temperatures time environment will make the desired chemical reactions but the chemical action of the fluxing actions ( reducing and oxidizing) and its ability to make the melt "flow well" in the hot viscous solution, so the wanted metals combine and the unwanted metals flow and rise into a glass (metal silicate/borate glass-slag) cover of the melt when poured to the cone mold.
The chemistry of the smelt and thus the flux is much determined by what material is being smelted, these are chemical operations done at high temperatures, just as with other chemical operations or manipulation of these metals takes an understanding of the chemical reactions involved and the operations needed for success, the choice of flux in a smelt is the same as choosing reagents(flux recipe) to make the chemical formulas for the materials being melted and the chemical reactions as well as the flow (viscosity) of the melt in proper conditions for the separation of metals or the intended process. Just as with other chemical operations it takes an understanding of the process of the fluxes and how they work and skill in the process...
you can have prills of values or small beads of metal captured within the glass structure if improperly fluxed or improper smelting procedures...
Crush the glass slag, use water and pan it, to separate the dust or crushed-glass for beads of metal or values by gravity separation, the crushed glass powders can then be dried which can be re-smelted with the use of a collector metal (lead or silver...)and proper fluxing of the melt (oxidizing the base metals back into glass and reducing or melting the values with the collector metal to form a cone bead in the bottom of the cone mold, the small beads if any can be refined further...
Smelting is a process of oxidizing or reducing certain metals at temperatures high enough to make the charge molten, in a chemical process of fluxing where not only temperatures time environment will make the desired chemical reactions but the chemical action of the fluxing actions ( reducing and oxidizing) and its ability to make the melt "flow well" in the hot viscous solution, so the wanted metals combine and the unwanted metals flow and rise into a glass (metal silicate/borate glass-slag) cover of the melt when poured to the cone mold.
The chemistry of the smelt and thus the flux is much determined by what material is being smelted, these are chemical operations done at high temperatures, just as with other chemical operations or manipulation of these metals takes an understanding of the chemical reactions involved and the operations needed for success, the choice of flux in a smelt is the same as choosing reagents(flux recipe) to make the chemical formulas for the materials being melted and the chemical reactions as well as the flow (viscosity) of the melt in proper conditions for the separation of metals or the intended process. Just as with other chemical operations it takes an understanding of the process of the fluxes and how they work and skill in the process...
butcher said:
Thank you Butcher,
I always research flux and heat method but there is no so much things because I can't find chemical except borax and soda ash. So I can't try silica or flourspar.
I am using 60 borax, % 40 soda ash. total mixing: %30 raw material % 65 flux %5 leadoxide.
I guess I have to increase lead oxide amount. Usually, after first melting I can't take metal dore. Second melting better but there is so much small button around the flux. Sometimes my dust inlude magnetic material, I don't want to seperate with magnet beucase may be they have precious metal.
I always think the temperature. I can't measure but try with copper. Copper melting in to oven. I guess the temperature around 1200 C. if I increase the temperature could it be useful to my smelting?
I think smelting deeper subject from wet method. I didn't find enough source like wet method. Of course the terms and english slow down me.
Sincerely,
Geo
Well-known member
Silica sand is plentiful in nature. The sand used in construction can be washed in HCl to remove impurities. Fluorspar is used in high quality optical glass. Any optical quality glass such as camera lens, projector lens, telescope lens, binocular lens will be calcium fluoride and silica. Just crush and add to the melt charge.
Smelting may need preoperations to prepare the ore for smelting.
the ore will need to be concentrated and the bulk of the gangue material separated from concentrated values, roasting or other processes may be needed to remove unwanted elements such as arsenic tellurides...
One problem with burning electronic scrap is the gases evolved can carry your gold off in the smoke with the other toxic pollutants.
Before smelting, the ore or charge is smelted and a recipe for a flux mix is chosen, the ore charge (melt) needs to be determined if it is an oxidative charge or a reducing charge.
Normally a house flux or one suitable for the ore is chosen for the ore by its type, a measure of Llitharge is added and smelted. the bead is measured to see if the melt reduced the proper amount of lead metalor kept the lead oxidized. now that the melt is determined to be we can adjust the flux mixture of reagents and retested until the proper recipe is found...
sSome of the flux reagents and there use:
Borax. This is an (acidic flux) and is appropriate to separate metallic oxides. If the addition is excessive, part of the gold will be lost and the remaining part reacts with alkaline fluxes, borax forms metal borate glass (slag) of the oxidized base metals and other impurities in the melt.
Silica. white sand or crushed bottle glass, another acid flux that changes the melting point. Excessive addition creates a molten charge with excessive viscosity, silica also forms the glass metal silicate slags to separate oxidized metal and gangue from the desired metal.
potassium carbonate. Is employed with sodium carbonate in order to modify the melting point of the sample.
Sodium carbonate. This (basic) flux can be added alone or not and its main action is to react with sulfides. Kt can be replaced with sodium bicarbonate.
Calcium oxide an alkaline flux that modifies the viscosity and fluidity of the charge. Also reacts with alumina.
• Lead oxide. Litharge is the yellow lead monoxide is a desulphurizing flux and provides lead metal to the process.
Sodium nitrate. It is an oxidizing agent whose addition is oriented the oxide base metals. Excessive addition changes dramatically the lead button size.
Reducing agents. They help to convert lead oxide to metallic lead. There are several types of reducing agents, some of them are flour, sugar, and charcoal or wood chips.
Fluorspar. which can be found as pretty colored rocks, This a neutral flux that improves decomposition and fluidity. Refractory ores that form thick non-viscous melt will generally need fluorspar to avoid gold losses.
the ore will need to be concentrated and the bulk of the gangue material separated from concentrated values, roasting or other processes may be needed to remove unwanted elements such as arsenic tellurides...
One problem with burning electronic scrap is the gases evolved can carry your gold off in the smoke with the other toxic pollutants.
Before smelting, the ore or charge is smelted and a recipe for a flux mix is chosen, the ore charge (melt) needs to be determined if it is an oxidative charge or a reducing charge.
Normally a house flux or one suitable for the ore is chosen for the ore by its type, a measure of Llitharge is added and smelted. the bead is measured to see if the melt reduced the proper amount of lead metalor kept the lead oxidized. now that the melt is determined to be we can adjust the flux mixture of reagents and retested until the proper recipe is found...
sSome of the flux reagents and there use:
Borax. This is an (acidic flux) and is appropriate to separate metallic oxides. If the addition is excessive, part of the gold will be lost and the remaining part reacts with alkaline fluxes, borax forms metal borate glass (slag) of the oxidized base metals and other impurities in the melt.
Silica. white sand or crushed bottle glass, another acid flux that changes the melting point. Excessive addition creates a molten charge with excessive viscosity, silica also forms the glass metal silicate slags to separate oxidized metal and gangue from the desired metal.
potassium carbonate. Is employed with sodium carbonate in order to modify the melting point of the sample.
Sodium carbonate. This (basic) flux can be added alone or not and its main action is to react with sulfides. Kt can be replaced with sodium bicarbonate.
Calcium oxide an alkaline flux that modifies the viscosity and fluidity of the charge. Also reacts with alumina.
• Lead oxide. Litharge is the yellow lead monoxide is a desulphurizing flux and provides lead metal to the process.
Sodium nitrate. It is an oxidizing agent whose addition is oriented the oxide base metals. Excessive addition changes dramatically the lead button size.
Reducing agents. They help to convert lead oxide to metallic lead. There are several types of reducing agents, some of them are flour, sugar, and charcoal or wood chips.
Fluorspar. which can be found as pretty colored rocks, This a neutral flux that improves decomposition and fluidity. Refractory ores that form thick non-viscous melt will generally need fluorspar to avoid gold losses.
Dear Butcher,
After the pyrolysis we have ash & metals. So I don't understand that we have to use flux? Then I research and fluid the owltech's videos. He use lead and silver instead of flux. All of the metal can see and this is looking better. I want to try this method. what is your ideas? He also used NaOh, why I don't know.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy4a57t7mlA
By the way at the weekend I tried %100 soda, %75 soda & %25 borax flux. Old smelted material be nice with %100 soda. But first smelting is worse. I also increase the litharge, because I had use 5 or 10 gr. I add more 150 gr. My material e-ore was 200 gr BGA. When I try cupellation my 12 kg propane finished. I am researching economical method to decrease propane consuming.
After the pyrolysis we have ash & metals. So I don't understand that we have to use flux? Then I research and fluid the owltech's videos. He use lead and silver instead of flux. All of the metal can see and this is looking better. I want to try this method. what is your ideas? He also used NaOh, why I don't know.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy4a57t7mlA
By the way at the weekend I tried %100 soda, %75 soda & %25 borax flux. Old smelted material be nice with %100 soda. But first smelting is worse. I also increase the litharge, because I had use 5 or 10 gr. I add more 150 gr. My material e-ore was 200 gr BGA. When I try cupellation my 12 kg propane finished. I am researching economical method to decrease propane consuming.
In the video he was not really smelting, he was just melting with collector metals using lead and silver metal to become a solvent for gold so he could recover some of the gold from the surface of the computer chips.
Smelting and fluxing operations are similar but very different, in smelting the flux and heat do the chemistry and is used to separate gangue and oxidize some metals while reducing other more valuable metals and often will also include a collector metal or litharge in the flux composition, in smelting the reagents (fluxes) are chosen to do the chemistry.
Melting will make an alloy out of all of the metals that are not volatile or easily oxidized by the conditions of the melt, as long as those metals are compatible with being alloyed together (not all metals will alloy with each other). Here fluxes may be used to help the metals flow together or to help clean the surface oxides of the metals enough that they will flow into the melt with other molten metals making an alloy.
Smelting the flux is chosen to oxidize some metals into slag glasses of oxidized metals, and reduce the more valuable metals to an alloy in a chemical reaction of the melt. The fluxes also helping with the flow of the melt, litharge, or collector metals may become part of the composition of the flux recipe, along with oxidizing or reducing reagents...
Smelting and fluxing operations are similar but very different, in smelting the flux and heat do the chemistry and is used to separate gangue and oxidize some metals while reducing other more valuable metals and often will also include a collector metal or litharge in the flux composition, in smelting the reagents (fluxes) are chosen to do the chemistry.
Melting will make an alloy out of all of the metals that are not volatile or easily oxidized by the conditions of the melt, as long as those metals are compatible with being alloyed together (not all metals will alloy with each other). Here fluxes may be used to help the metals flow together or to help clean the surface oxides of the metals enough that they will flow into the melt with other molten metals making an alloy.
Smelting the flux is chosen to oxidize some metals into slag glasses of oxidized metals, and reduce the more valuable metals to an alloy in a chemical reaction of the melt. The fluxes also helping with the flow of the melt, litharge, or collector metals may become part of the composition of the flux recipe, along with oxidizing or reducing reagents...
