Help with potential profits of RAM scrap

[anachronism]

The initial dose of Peroxide is a catalyst to begin the process. The addition of air bubbles maintains it, by allowing the solution to dissolve more copper than it would without the additional oxygen.

 

[cejohnsonsr1]

So almost a week in now and some fingers came off within a couple of days. Some still stay on there quiet firmly.
I was thinking, what if I add hydrogen peroxide, does the amount of H2O2 speed up the process and does adding more H2O2 speed up the process more?

I am aware that this may result in gold into the solution but can someone tell me what the disadvantages are if there is gold in the solution?
Can I cement it out selectively with more reactive metals or isn't this as straight forward as it seems to be?

I used to add some peroxide in the very beginning and then every few days until it was done. I just used the weak peroxide like you get at the grocery store. Not the strong kind from a salon or pool supply. The weak kind in this quantity won’t put any of the gold in solution. And definitely keep the solution moving with an air bubbler. Doing it this way should take about 2 weeks.

 

[ssmontecarlo]

Yes I have air bubbling in there. I want to give it another week but I also want to know the cons of dissolving gold into solution with this method.
Can you elaborate a little on that?

I'm not knowledgeable on dissolving gold into solution intentionally. I have put gold into solution "AP" by adding to much of peroxide. Some say it won't, some say it will. I'm voting on " it will" IF you add to much.

 

[Shark]

The initial dose of Peroxide is a catalyst to begin the process. The addition of air bubbles maintains it, by allowing the solution to dissolve more copper than it would without the additional oxygen.

Once this is understood, and used to an advantage, it becomes even more useful.

 

[mr.data]

The initial dose of Peroxide is a catalyst to begin the process. The addition of air bubbles maintains it, by allowing the solution to dissolve more copper than it would without the additional oxygen.

So it usually takes a week or 2 to 3 but when I would add Peroxide, heat and bubbling I can use this method to get it done in a week, maybe 1.5 ?

 

[mr.data]

I'm not knowledgeable on dissolving gold into solution intentionally. I have put gold into solution "AP" by adding to much of peroxide. Some say it won't, some say it will. I'm voting on " it will" IF you add to much.

I get it from a store here that is selling laboratory equipment and chemicals of all sorts. It is exactly 3% peroxide.


Was it easy to get the gold out of AP solution?

 

[Marcel]

@mrdata Was it easy to get the gold out of AP solution?

The dissolved (ultra-fine) gold will rapidly precipitate/cement onto the copper or other present base metals if copper is absent. If any peroxide remains, the Gold will dissolve again and immediately precipitate/cement once more. This cycle, which occurs at a very high frequency, will continue until the peroxide is exhausted—this process can take only seconds. The Gold will ultimately deposit on a base metal surface. Only if no other base metals are present will the Gold remain in solution.
So I assume, that there was no more Gold dissolved by the peroxide after the AP process was finished.

 

[Yggdrasil]

So it usually takes a week or 2 to 3 but when I would add Peroxide, heat and bubbling I can use this method to get it done in a week, maybe 1.5 ?

Heating it will speed up the decompsition of the Peroxide.

 

[Yggdrasil]

I get it from a store here that is selling laboratory equipment and chemicals of all sorts. It is exactly 3% peroxide.


Was it easy to get the gold out of AP solution?

After an AP process is finished, if done correctly the Gold will be as foils in the liquid and it is just to scoop/filter it out.

 

[Yggdrasil]

The dissolved (ultra-fine) gold will rapidly precipitate/cement onto the copper or other present base metals if copper is absent. If any peroxide remains, the gold will dissolve again and immediately precipitate/cement once more. This cycle, which occurs at a very high frequency, will continue until the peroxide is exhausted—this process can take only seconds. The gold will ultimately deposit on a base metal surface. Only if no other base metals are present will the gold remain in solution.

In there is the rub, if you do not manage to dissolve all base metals, you risk leaving some Gold inside the PCBs.
So why add Peroxide if you are not in a hurry?

 

[Marcel]

In there is the rub, if you do not manage to dissolve all base metals, you risk leaving some Gold inside the PCBs.
So why add Peroxide if you are not in a hurry?

That post was a reply to the question of Mr.Data.
I missed to quote the question so I corrected that now.
To complete the picture: It only makes sense to add peroxide once, at the beginning of the AP process as "kickstarter". If done later it will be of no use. The bubbler takes care of introducing oxygen and added peroxide will mostly lead to dissolving Gold and cementing it out.

 

[mr.data]

The dissolved (ultra-fine) gold will rapidly precipitate/cement onto the copper or other present base metals if copper is absent. If any peroxide remains, the Gold will dissolve again and immediately precipitate/cement once more. This cycle, which occurs at a very high frequency, will continue until the peroxide is exhausted—this process can take only seconds. The Gold will ultimately deposit on a base metal surface. Only if no other base metals are present will the Gold remain in solution.
So I assume, that there was no more Gold dissolved by the peroxide after the AP process was finished.

Do I get it right if the peroxide gets exhausted and there will be base metals in the solution that adding peroxide later on will only lengthen the duration because the base metals where the gold is cemented on need to be dissolved again?

 

[mr.data]

Heating it will speed up the decompsition of the Peroxide.

I meant after the peroxide is added in the first time to kickstart the process. Then heating it along with bubbling to speed up the process

 

[Yggdrasil]

I meant after the peroxide is added in the first time to kickstart the process. Then heating it along with bubbling to speed up the process

Heating it will increase the speed yes, but if it is worth it considering the cost of electricity, I don't know.

 

[ssmontecarlo]

I get it from a store here that is selling laboratory equipment and chemicals of all sorts. It is exactly 3% peroxide.


Was it easy to get the gold out of AP solution?

When I accidentally put gold into solution, was way back when I first started gold recovery/ refining. When I noticed I was dissolving gold foils into AP I filtered the solution into a 5 gallon bucket. Sprinkled in some Smb...stump out. Put a lid over the bucket. Now something did precipitate out. I assumed it to be gold. Filtered the solution through a 5 micron filter. And added it to my gold melt. Remember this occurred about 5 years ago. Now was it gold..I don't know . You may ask, well how did I know I had gold in solution? Well an inexperienced person wanted to hurry hurry hurry. So I added more peroxide to my AP solution. Literally noticed the gold foils dissolving. Then a stannous chloride test. Now I've learned from what others have told me..and one of the most important bits of information I've learned...BE PATIENT.... sometimes to speed up, you got to slow down. An oxymoronic statement...maybe...but think about that. Couple weeks ago I did 2 pound of ram card gold fingers...took 4-5 days to remove 99% of gold foils. Method used..Ap, bubbler. On low heat.

 

[mr.data]

When I accidentally put gold into solution, was way back when I first started gold recovery/ refining. When I noticed I was dissolving gold foils into AP I filtered the solution into a 5 gallon bucket. Sprinkled in some Smb...stump out. Put a lid over the bucket. Now something did precipitate out. I assumed it to be gold. Filtered the solution through a 5 micron filter. And added it to my gold melt. Remember this occurred about 5 years ago. Now was it gold..I don't know . You may ask, well how did I know I had gold in solution? Well an inexperienced person wanted to hurry hurry hurry. So I added more peroxide to my AP solution. Literally noticed the gold foils dissolving. Then a stannous chloride test. Now I've learned from what others have told me..and one of the most important bits of information I've learned...BE PATIENT.... sometimes to speed up, you got to slow down. An oxymoronic statement...maybe...but think about that. Couple weeks ago I did 2 pound of ram card gold fingers...took 4-5 days to remove 99% of gold foils. Method used..Ap, bubbler. On low heat.

I have the patience so that is not a problem yet, maybe later when scaling up but it's good to know what exactly happens so that I can anticipate and in the same time figure out all the ways so that I can become an expert as well.
Putting it on heat might be another option but I first want to move the operation indoors so that I can proceed year round.

 

[Taleeho]

When I accidentally put gold into solution, was way back when I first started gold recovery/ refining. When I noticed I was dissolving gold foils into AP I filtered the solution into a 5 gallon bucket. Sprinkled in some Smb...stump out. Put a lid over the bucket. Now something did precipitate out. I assumed it to be gold. Filtered the solution through a 5 micron filter. And added it to my gold melt. Remember this occurred about 5 years ago. Now was it gold..I don't know . You may ask, well how did I know I had gold in solution? Well an inexperienced person wanted to hurry hurry hurry. So I added more peroxide to my AP solution. Literally noticed the gold foils dissolving. Then a stannous chloride test. Now I've learned from what others have told me..and one of the most important bits of information I've learned...BE PATIENT.... sometimes to speed up, you got to slow down. An oxymoronic statement...maybe...but think about that. Couple weeks ago I did 2 pound of ram card gold fingers...took 4-5 days to remove 99% of gold foils. Method used..Ap, bubbler. On low heat.

What was the weight of the foils you recovered from the 2 lb of fingers.? Boardsort is now paying $50/lb for "Clean Gold Fingers" So I hope you got more than 1.2 grams now that gold is going for almost $83/gram.

 

[andu]

No, water will not turn HCl into an oxidizer!!!
Stop spreading misinformation.
Peroxide on the other hand is an oxidizer.

You seem to have a fetish for ignoring people's actual meaning, he even used a damned dot, his question was IF to add water or acid first, the user answered clearly and excluding the essence of the question that in this case no water is involved. . , + -
I admit I barely read but I have not seen anyone mentioning that addition of peroxide is unnecesary and even undesirable when a bubbler is used.

 

[Darkthirty]

You seem to have a fetish for ignoring people's actual meaning, he even used a damned dot, his question was IF to add water or acid first, the user answered clearly and excluding the essence of the question that in this case no water is involved. . , + -
I admit I barely read but I have not seen anyone mentioning that addition of peroxide is unnecesary and even undesirable when a bubbler is used.

I've seen many posts that state addition of peroxide will put PMs into solution...

 

[Yggdrasil]

You seem to have a fetish for ignoring people's actual meaning, he even used a damned dot, his question was IF to add water or acid first, the user answered clearly and excluding the essence of the question that in this case no water is involved. . , + -
I admit I barely read but I have not seen anyone mentioning that addition of peroxide is unnecesary and even undesirable when a bubbler is used.

Read it again mate.

In essence he says: "Do not add water, because it will turn the HCl to an oxidizer".
Which I clearly say it will not.

Edit for correction.