Sloshing loads of Peroxide in will do that for sure Dark. As mentioned before, an initial small amount is a useful catalyst to get things moving.
Help with potential profits of RAM scrap
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So it took a while but I am getting there. The solution was too saturated so I refreshed it with 500ml HCl and turned on the bubbling again.
There was still about 5% gold pins on the fingers.
I rinsed it for the first time and this is the result. What a great sight to see for the first time.
I collected the HCl with Copper to get the clean in a later stage.
Then I rinsed the filter with plenty of water and collected that in a separate flask.
It is light blue. Can I neutralize it and drain in through the sink or is there too much metal in there?
There was still about 5% gold pins on the fingers.
I rinsed it for the first time and this is the result. What a great sight to see for the first time.
I collected the HCl with Copper to get the clean in a later stage.
Then I rinsed the filter with plenty of water and collected that in a separate flask.
It is light blue. Can I neutralize it and drain in through the sink or is there too much metal in there?
Nice.
Just set the AP solution aside and use next time.
It lives practically for ever.
What about the light blue solution which contains mainly of water with a little bit of left over copper solution?
Can I dispose of that through the drain after it is neutralized or is there too much metal still in it?
Keep the solution and reuse it for rinsing the next batch of chips . Why create more waste right .
Put it with the rest of your liquid waste and run it through a proper waste treatment.
The AP is not waste.
When I was told by a member, that CuCl2 can practically be used. Over and over...I was like really. Then he said, throw you some pins in the bucket, just forget about them. For week or two. Again, I was like really. Well , great advice...listen to what these people are telling you. They know their gold recovery/ refining. Thanks again Shark. And remember once you get a well established bucket of CuCl2. You don't have to use peroxide no more. Maybe add a little, fresh, Hcl to it.
If the only base metal being dissolved is copper, the solution is, indeed, reusable over and over. But it's the other metals that may go into solution that can eventually cause it to lose its usefulness. Pins, for example, are not pure copper as the base metal. The most common is probably brass, a mixture of copper and zinc. Eventually, the zinc will cause all the copper to cement out, and a zinc chloride solution is no longer an effective leach. I'm not saying not to use it for pins. Just be aware that over time, it will become less effective.
Dave
Dave
Thanks a lot for all the great information everybody! Really helpful and I learned a lot.
Now this method is working well but it is extremely slow.
I want a faster way to recover the metals from RAM scrap.
Is the next logical method to use Nitric acid or is there a cheaper (or safer) alternative that might be effective?
Now this method is working well but it is extremely slow.
I want a faster way to recover the metals from RAM scrap.
Is the next logical method to use Nitric acid or is there a cheaper (or safer) alternative that might be effective?
The good thing about this method is it is a set it and forget it method.
It do not need to be supervised.
And the cheapest and safest out there.
The Nitric route is faster, more expensive and need to be "supervised".
Cyanide is also good as it if done right will only take the Gold(values).
But is a very involved and dangerous process if done wrong.
Also very difficult to get Cyanide in Europe, if not impossible.
You mentioned gold, values.
Do you mean there is nothing else to be gained? I think there is silver, tin and copper as well
If you go for Silver there is practically only one option, Nitric.
But then again there is very little if any Silver in PCBs.
Excluding dangerous exotic solution like Cyanides.
Sounds logical indeed. I have some silver colored particles floating around with the gold but for now the amount is too low to even bother.
Depending how you have treated it it is unlikely to be Silver as it don't dissolve if Chlorides are present.
If you are going for all values there is only one way really.
Smelting and electrolytic separation.
It is indeed not dissolved like the gold isn't so it must be silver. All other silver looking metals like Tin and Zinc dissolve in HCl.
What about cementing the metals based on the reactivity chart where I use a piece of metal each precipitation up a level on the chart?
Those particles are likely to be the sheets from within the small MLCC that are on the boards.
Sir Yggdrasil, is it possible to have only HCL bath solution that can accommodate RAM fingers without having to add Hydrogen Peroxide? Just a bubbler and HCL bath + RAM fingers? OR Bubbler + HCL + tiny volume of Hydrogen Peroxide bath? Because I'm confused, I thought HCL + Hydrogen Peroxide is not enough to melt the gold-plated fingers.
You have obviously not read or studied what we have given you.
It has been said over and over again that there is NO need of Peroxide for the AP (Cupric Chloride) leach.
The oxygen from the air bubbler is plenty enough.
In fact some of us prefer to not use peroxide. With an air bubbler peroxide is just another chemical we can get by with out. Keep it simple when possible.
