Electrochemistry Electrolisis for recovering Cu from Cu-Cl solutions.

[philddreamer]

The anode was of these plated pins from servers. The yield from the ingot 1.3g as expected.
Phil

 

[BAMGOLD]

n00b question here... So if "pins" are copper based then AP will work for them just like "fingers"? Makes sense I guess. What if they are perfectly gold plated, and no way for AP to get to the copper? Did you scratch the all?

 

[philddreamer]

Yes, there's a way to get to the copper, you incinerate! 8) It will save you a lot of "scratching". :mrgreen:

AP takes a long time to get rid of the copper. Mind you, there's 453.6g in a pound, of this pound of pins, yields 4g is gold. It's best to de-plate the gold, then I place the pins in AP while you work on something else. The cell also works. It's hands off processing!

Take care!

Phil

 

[donnybrook]

They used scrap iron when recovering copper from old mines. They flooded the mine with a weak sulphuric then pumped it over iron scrap to recover the copper in an exchange process. The same could be done using steel wool which would exchange with the copper to produce a black powder. Not sure what else in the periodic table might also do this. I have used alumium for some of the more precious PM's but am unsure about copper. Iron such as unsoaped steel wool will do it.
donnybrook

 

[Palladium]

Yes, there's a way to get to the copper, you incinerate! 8) It will save you a lot of "scratching". :mrgreen:

AP takes a long time to get rid of the copper. Mind you, there's 453.6g in a pound, of this pound of pins, yields 4g is gold. It's best to de-plate the gold, then I place the pins in AP while you work on something else. The cell also works. It's hands off processing!

Take care!

Phil

I love ap for pins. 1 gallon of hcl will dissolve about 3 lb copper. A gallon of hcl cost $6. That's $2 to get 4g of gold. Not counting an air pump of course.

 

[philddreamer]

Thanks Pall!
I was just asking myself that question, how much copper can a gallon of HCl dissolve.
Phil

 

[Palladium]

The amount of time it takes to dissolve pins is directly related to several factors. Air or free ox in solution. Heat or thermal dynamics, free hcl in solution, and amount of agitation or surface contact. You need free HCl and O2 to convert the CuCl to CuCl2. When the CuCl concentration reaches only 20 gm/litre, the reaction will nearly stop. Ap can be manipulated in many ways. Some are good and some are bad. Parameters must be controlled or it can go from real good to where's my gold fast.

 

[philddreamer]

Thanks, Bro! 8)

 

[steyr223]

The amount of time it takes to dissolve pins is directly related to several factors. Air or free ox in solution. Heat or thermal dynamics, free hcl in solution, and amount of agitation or surface contact. You need free HCl and O2 to convert the CuCl to CuCl2. When the CuCl concentration reaches only 20 gm/litre, the reaction will nearly stop. Ap can be manipulated in many ways. Some are good and some are bad. Parameters must be controlled or it can go from real good to where's my gold fast.

I would. Be interested in a thread on this (sorry Phil)
Excellent reading phil...it made me late for work :lol:
Thanks Steyr223 rob

 

[donnybrook]

Hey Phil,
Look at the electro potentials of metals on the net. If you are using an electro win system you can make a simple controller so that you can selectively remove each metal you are interested in.
Donny