Experience from Bulgaria

[plamenppp]

No, they do not have Al foil in them. I've broken at least 10 of them to see what is inside. There is no Al. There is a plate with layers in it - a layer Pd, a layer ceramics, a layer Pd, a layer ceramics, a layer Pd, a layer ceramics, a layer Pd, a layer ceramics and so on ... I just don't want to post a nice 2 MB picture to show what is inside, because I respect the administrators.

 

[teclu]

Ceramic bulgarian capacitors blue and brown from plamenppp pictures contains Pd, certainly less than the russian, but contains.

Quantities of metal which can be recovered varies depending on several factors but an average it could show(all without legs):
H30,H50,D russian green 40-50gPd and 30-35gPt /kg
H50 russian brown,yellow and orange 25-30gPd and 15gPt /kg
H90 russian green,brown, yellow and orange 40-50gPd/kg
(F,J,L,N,M,V,U, ...all=H90)
bulgarian brown and blue aprox 15-20gPd/kg

...there are many more types of russian and east capacitors containing Pd and Pt but KM type are the most profitable. By the way most of the above contain silver also.

Is true also that I have not processed hundred of kg's only a few tens.

teclu

 

[plamenppp]

Teclu, do you have statistics about the bulgarian square and rectangular potentiometers that contain Pd? % of Pd in the plates and weiight of the plates? Today I broke 2 monitors for Pravetz 8 - 11 square potentiometers, some blue and a few brown capacitators, 2 metal transistors with gold plated bottoms and 4-5 plastic transistors (if they are transistors), 2 Al radiators, transformators with Cu and Fe. I Wonder if the glass has a layer of Ag on its inner side. I will post pictures when I shrink them.

1 lv = 1.35 USD
1 kg Al - 1.30 lv
1 kg Cu - 7.50 lv
1 kg Pb - 1.50 lv
1 kg Fe - 0.25 lv
1 kg plastic - 0.10-0.25 lv (not all plastic is accepted)

 

[Irons]

That's dedication. 8)

 

[plamenppp]

That's dedication. 8)

I destroyed two more of the same type last month.

Soon I'll wonder where to find scrap from I will have to buy it from somewhere probably ... The scrap companies are very greedy and they think they can cheat everyone with the price ...

 

[Irons]

That's dedication. 8)

I destroyed two more of the same type last month.

Soon I'll wonder where to find scrap from I will have to buy it from somewhere probably ... The scrap companies are very greedy and they think they can cheat everyone with the price ...

Just don't get so big that you begin to behave like them. Money does bad things to people.

If you're dealing with big dealers, there's a good chance that some may have connections to Organized Crime. The scrap business is a great place to launder money and they don't like people making it difficult for them to operate.

 

[plamenppp]

I know this but geting scrap from relatives, frinends and their friends has its limits - it is slow and small Anyway, I have something in mind.

 

[teclu]

...Teclu, do you have statistics about the bulgarian square and rectangular potentiometers that contain Pd? % of Pd in the plates and weiight of the plates?...

Those are not bulgarian potentiometers, they are russian СП5...2,3..(latin SP5-2...3) type.
On the metal plate is welded in few points a small piece, only that piece is a AgPd alloy, 7-10mg Pd and 9mg Ag /piece.

teclu

 

[plamenppp]

Teclu knows too much! He is suspicious! He must be checked! :twisted:

So, 100 of them - 0.7-1 gram. I've always thouht they are Bulgarian ... I'll have to collect a lot of them. Today I decided to break some of the "low yeild staff" and look what happened.
Most of the black small gold mines are not in the list of the russian components provided by someone in this forum.

 

[Oz]

As you have found out, one must break a few eggs to make an omelet.

 

[plamenppp]

I have some PCBs with a lot of these on them. I half break them and half take them off the PCB with a screwdriver. It will be a lot of breaking and when I finish with them ... Where from will I get more?

 

[goldsilverpro]

They look like plastic. Incineration might be the easiest first step.

The similar looking, common (at least, they used to be) ceramic type can be easily opened by heating to about 700F - 800F (if I remember right) and then quenching in water. They fall apart and can be dried first, tumbled alone in a cement mixer to loosen everything up, and then the metal can be separated with a magnet, assuming it's Kovar (usually) or other magnetic metal . The ceramic halves are held together with a layer of glass, which shatters when heated and quenched.

I just thought of this. Most ceramic, such as that in CPU packages, contains about 5% glass to hold the ceramic frit together. Heating and quenching might weaken the ceramic and make it much easier to grind.

 

[plamenppp]

They look like plastic. Incineration might be the easiest first step.

The similar looking, common (at least, they used to be) ceramic type can be easily opened by heating to about 700F - 800F (if I remember right) and then quenching in water. They fall apart and can be dried first, tumbled alone in a cement mixer to loosen everything up, and then the metal can be separated with a magnet, assuming it's Kovar (usually) or other magnetic metal . The ceramic halves are held together with a layer of glass, which shatters when heated and quenched.

I just thought of this. Most ceramic, such as that in CPU packages, contains about 5% glass to hold the ceramic frit together. Heating and quenching might weaken the ceramic and make it much easier to grind.

They are plastic I'm processing them with a vice - not a fast and nice job.

I will take into account your idea with the heating.

 

[goldsilverpro]

I've done the vise thing with the plastic ones. Goes slow. Some split easy by holding them with long tweezers, on their sides, on a hard surface, and hitting the side edge with a hammer.

 

[plamenppp]

Both ways are not good enough - sometimes they work and sometimes not This is a part of the job.

 

[plamenppp]

As I was loking for, searching and asking I came across a man who has been working in a factory for electronics during the communism times for 15 years. I told him I need them transistors to rapair old Bg electronics but he laughed at me and said: " I am too old to be lied from a young boy.You seem inteligent. You need them because of the gold. 15 stotinki (bulgarian cents) for each one. I have 5000 of them. I can get more and not only transistors." He gave me four of them. Has anyone any idea how much gold is in them?

The cell will be best for them. Now it is -13 degrees C and I am not willing to do anything in the cold.

15 stotinki = 0.11 USD

The legs are partially plated.

 

[samuel-a]

i run my cell indoor without any problem... just have a fan on a window open to circulate the air in the room

 

[goldsilverpro]

plamenppp,

The cell is not the way to go, as it will only get what you can see. What you can now see is likely a small percentage of the gold that is there. Open up one and see what's inside - report back. Also, tell me if the can is magnetic. How much does one of them weigh?

If the pad under the chip is gold plated, the chip is likely attached with gold solder. If so, the probable best way (to get it all) is to first dissolve everything you can in nitric and then go after the gold with aqua regia. Read this thread.

http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=5535&p=47599&hilit=to5s#p47599

 

[plamenppp]

I know how to remove the caps because I've done this before - with some force and a pair of pliers They are not magnetic - nothing is them is magnetic. The chip - so small that I hardly can see it. The transistors I got today have only three legs. After the cell I think to keep all the rest for "black days" as it may contain some gold. I throw nothing away. Cell indoors - never. Safety and health first! For now I am interested in the yeild per piece or 100 pieces.

 

[goldsilverpro]

If they're not magnetic, what are they? Nickel plated copper? Is the lid soluble in hot 50/50 nitric? If gold solder is used for the chip, that's where most of the value is. The gold solder won't be touched by the cell.