Where to begin?
Opt, I'm afraid you've mixed up several processes in what you've written, and despite MarcoP's good intentions, he's compounded the confusion a bit.
If the glasses frames are indeed just gold plated, then a stripping (reverse plating) cell would be a good choice. If they are gold filled, the stripping cell probably won't work out as well.
There is no correct concentration of HCl for a stripping cell. It uses concentrated sulfuric acid, not hydrochloric acid. You also ask if you need to add hydrogen peroxide. Using hydrochloric acid along with hydrogen peroxide creates a copper(II) chloride leach solution (often referred to as AP) which is generally used to dissolve base metals prior to dissolving precious metals. This process has nothing to do with the stripping cell. Glycerine is not needed in either process. There was old information that suggested it was needed, but it has been found to serve no purpose.
The Wohlwill cell is a completely different electrolytic process. The stripping cell is used to recover gold from plated items. The Wohlwill cell is used to refine gold to a high degree of purity.
The filter MarcoP mentions is called a Charmin plug. It was originally created by one of our members (lazersteve) by packing a wad of Charmin brand toilet paper into the neck of a funnel, creating an alternative to filter paper. Other members have replaced the toilet paper with a wad of fiberglass insulation. The fiberglass is not affected by the acid.
I hope that clears up a bit of the confusion and gives you some direction to continue your studies. Here are some links I provide to new members to help them get started.
The first rule is to be safe in everything you do. Before you jump into any of the processes you see discussed here, be sure you understand the potential hazards and do everything you can to minimize the risks. Read EVERYTHING in the
Safety section of the forum, especially the
Dealing with Waste topic. No amount of precious metal is worth jeopardizing your health or the health of those around you.
I strongly encourage all new members to follow the
Guided Tour created by LazerSteve. It will provide an introduction to the forum and numerous valuable links including the General Reactions List. Be sure to follow the link to his web site as he has many outstanding videos, a collection of great reference documents, and he sells a lot of the supplies needed to get started including detailed instructional DVDs. Samuel-a also has a lot of videos, guides and tutorials at his web site
Gold-N-Scrap.
Download C. M. Hoke's book. You'll find links to both screen readable and printer friendly versions in my signature line below. You'll see her book mentioned repeatedly here on the forum for good reason. It is probably the best book ever written for the beginner who wants to learn refining. It is written in layman's terms and will provide a solid foundation that will help you understand everything you read here on the forum. You'll also find a tremendous amount of information in the two Forum Handbooks compiled by aflacglobal,
Forum Handbook Vol 1 and
Forum Handbook Vol 2.
bmgold2 has also been putting together a useful set of links for beginners. You'll find a few links there that are duplicates of the ones I'm providing, but he has also taken the time to link to many other very good threads on specific topics of interest. His thread is here:
New Member Answers.
Once you understand the basics you can start to try some small scale experiments. If there's something you don't understand or you get stuck, there will be someone here to help you.
Best of luck,
Dave
