Help in recovering gold from 500kg of processors in one go

[Mano2876]

Hello everyone
I have about 500 kg of Intel Pentium MMX and AMD Athlon ceramic processors for processing.
I would like to convert this amount several times.
Is it possible to process, for example, about 40-50 kg of processors in a large barrel?
Of course, I would like to recover in AR

 

[jarlowski1]

I would not recommend doing that large of a batch for your first time. Make sure you study on how to deal with the waste solutions after you are finished.

 

[Mano2876]

It's not the first time I'm doing this
I have already done a lot of processors, but I did 5-8 kg ​​at a time. I would like to know how to convert more at once

 

[kjavanb123]

Smelting is the best way to go. Check out youtube channel by MBMMC, he has a video just for ceramic CPUs.

 

[Palladium]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaDy-ErJaj4[/youtube]

 

[kjavanb123]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaDy-ErJaj4[/youtube]

Thanks Palladium that video is what I was refering to.

 

[JoeyJoystick]

Video

Hi Palladium,

Just out of curiosity, do you know what purity the gold button was? Or what it would typically be? Will the button be refined further?

I am surprised about the silver content, but I am sure someone will come up with something on this. But I also find it strange that there is no copper present at all.

Thanks for sharing this video. I learned a lot.


Joey

 

[Mano2876]

Smelting is the best way to go. Check out youtube channel by MBMMC, he has a video just for ceramic CPUs.

I think melting 500kg will be very time consuming. Especially since I do not have access to this type of oven.

 

[kurtak]

I am surprised about the silver content, but I am sure someone will come up with something on this. But I also find it strange that there is no copper present at all.

Joey

Joey

The silver (& at least some of the Pd) comes from the solder used to braze the lids on the CPUs that have lids as well as the solder used to braze the pins on the CPUs

There is no copper because in that process the lead becomes lead oxide which is a "very stonge" oxidizer for base metals so the base metals go off in the cupel (as oxides of the base metals) along with the lead oxide

Kurt

 

[jarlowski1]

I believe he lost some gold somewhere, although I can't pin point exactly where. That particular motorola chip in my experience has .25g by itself. The amd .03. The orions I have not processed enough of those by themselves, but I imagine they have about .1g each. Which adds up to .48g gold. Maybe my estimate on those orions is off?


Edited for spelling

 

[Owltech]

Smelting is the best way to go. Check out youtube channel by MBMMC, he has a video just for ceramic CPUs.

I think melting 500kg will be very time consuming. Especially since I do not have access to this type of oven.

Agree with kjavanb123, 500kg will take some time process but dissolving them in acid will take AGES. I've processed 10kg ceramic CPUs using lead bath in less than 30min using shallow 40x60cm stainless steel tray.

 

[Mano2876]

Smelting is the best way to go. Check out youtube channel by MBMMC, he has a video just for ceramic CPUs.

I think melting 500kg will be very time consuming. Especially since I do not have access to this type of oven.

Agree with kjavanb123, 500kg will take some time process but dissolving them in acid will take AGES. I've processed 10kg ceramic CPUs using lead bath in less than 30min using shallow 40x60cm stainless steel tray.

I watch your videos on YT all the time. You can write more about a given processing method. Lead quantities etc?
I would be grateful!

 

[g_axelsson]

I would also be hesitant to use smelting to recover the gold from ceramic chips. Especially after talking with an operator from the Boliden smelter and hear them complaining that they don't get all the gold from ceramic CPU:s in their e-scrap smelter (e-caldo).

First of all, sort the CPU:s. Pentium MMX were usually black fiber CPU:s with copper traces inside circuit boards and potted bond wires. If you put that straight into aqua regia the gold will cement inside the fiber boards and you will lose some of your gold. Been there, done that and kept the CPU:s to remind me of my mistakes.
See Where did my gold go?

The ceramic AMD Athlon CPU:s have all the gold on the surface of the pins and the ceramics. In this case a cyanide leach would get all the gold with very little chemical use and quite fast too. The drawback is that cyanide needs special instruments and training to keep it safe.

Personally I would use aqua regia on whole AMD athlon ceramic CPU:s and I would incinerate them first to get rid of all organic matter before acid treatment.

Göran

 

[Owltech]

There is gold under the silicone die, selective leaches like cyanide, iodine, thiourea etc will leach only the exposed gold.

 

[g_axelsson]

Ceramic flip-chip (AMD Athlon ceramic) might have a small amount of gold plate under the CPU, but not enough to warrant the work to extract it. The connections in a flip-chip is made from solder, not bonding wires and the CPU is glued to the substrate, not brazed as earlier generations were.

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/TYPE-Athlon.html

Göran