I think I screwed up!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,I have been reading alot of post's and replies over the last few weeks and thought I could takle a project;in which I believe I screwed up.I am new to all this so please bear with me.I was trying a nitric acid soltion(disolved 1/2 cup sn + 16oz Hot distilled water,then mixed with battery acid from auto parts store)to run about 1 pound of misc.processor's(ceramic and fiber type).I tried slowly heating it up on a hot plate for a few hours and still had "white" powder in mix so I filtered the rest of the powder out.Next I tossed in the cpu's and left outside overnight.When I checked them the next morning I found I had a dark,kool-aid green and a bunch more of the white powder in the bottom I previously filtered the day before.Also alot of the pins were still intact.

At that point I figured I rushed something so I carefully poured off the batch and tried again.I left cpu's in for about 3 days worth this time and now again,some of the pins did fall off but no gold color's;all the pins(including the ones that fell off and stayed on cpu's) now look copper.

So again,I carefully poured off through 3 coffee filters about 3 different time's(using new,clean filters each time) and the first run looks like tan mud.The second one is even darker yet and the third is when I went ahead and caught the pins in the filter.I don't meen to sound stupid,but what did I do wrong?? Is there something I can do to fix this mess up??

Any and all help would be much appreciated.

P.S. The cpu mix consisted of some pentium1's,a couple of celeron's(fiber cpu's),and some amd chips;a few of which were the amd k6-2's but I did pull the plates off of the amd's.

 

[Noxx]

Timmo,
What you did was nitric acid. Nitric acid will NOT dissolve gold but other metals. If your reaction is complete, you should get gold flakes floating around.

Since it was colder the night, that's why you got a precipitate. Some heat should dissolve back the crystals. If they do not dissolve, then just filter them.

Also, what you need is concentrated sulfuric acid. I think battery acid is only 30%.

Finally, please use the search button and look for « nitric acid sodium nitrate » (search for all terms) Then use the recipe by lazersteve. If you follow it carefully, you shouldn't have any problems. If you do, do not hesitate to ask.

 

[Palladium]

:arrow: http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=11223&highlight=nitric+recipie#11223

 

[Noxx]

Link does not work for me...

 

[Palladium]

Now that's just weird. We have that same thing happening on the thread where you posted the hoke link to file send at. Except the exact opposite.

The link works for me.
Anyone else :?:

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help guys.I did try the link and I found lazersteves formula no problem.Takes me a little longer to read(don't quite understand all the abr./scientific codes) but am working on that.When I started the batch,I was following instruction that came with the sn I bought of ebay.

At first I did see gold flakes floating but then/now all pins and flakes look more copper then anything.I will try to wash and see what happens.I have been "collecting" escrap for quite some time and only recently become aware of gold recovery with it.To bad too I have come across all kinds of old stuff i.e. hundreds of pentium pro cpus,etc. I won't say what my stupidity has done in the past.lol

I have watched steves videos and they are very helpfull! Thanks

I will keep everyone posted on my first days of school and hope to succeed in the recovery and refineing process.I still have tons of escrap to go through and am constintly getting it;so guys beware for I am sure I will be buggung some of you. :lol:
This site is so awesome and thanks goes out to nox,steve,harold,catfish.
Thanks guys. Thank the rest of you as well.

 

[Palladium]

Cold Nitric Acid Production using H2SO4 sulfuric acid Which is con: battery acid, and NaNO3 Sodium Nitrate

Reaction #1

1) Bring 100 mL distilled H2O Water to a rolling boil (100 C)
2) Remove the H2O Water from the heat
3) Add 170 gm of NaNO3 Sodium Nitrate into the 100 mL of hot distilled H2O Water with constant stirring unitl fully dissolved
4) Add 56 ml 98% H2SO4 sulfuric acid in small portions to the nitre solution with stirring, DO NOT let the solution boil
5) Let solution cool to room temperature (DO NOT skip this step or your reaction vessel may shatter!!)
6) Place reaction vessel into freezer or in a salted ice water bath until the solution temperature reaches -5 C
7) Let solution set for 30 minutes at -5 C
8} Pour or siphon off the liquid nitric acid while cold
9) Resultant salt is Na2SO4 Sodium Sulfate and can be dried and used to convert Calcium Nitrate Ca(NO3)2 into more Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3) for next batch.


How to produce concentrated sulfuric acid from battery acid.

Use regular battery acid acquired from your local NAPA store. This can be purchased in one (1) quart, 1 ½ gallons, or 5 gallons quantities. This diluted acid is inexpensive.

Assumptions: :arrow:
Regular battery acid is 65% water (H2O) and 35% sulfuric acid (H2SO4). This computes to 1.25 grams specific gravity per cubic cm or 1 ml. (Often referred to as 1250 specific gravity.)

This is only 1.25 x 1000ml, another way of saying it.
Distilled water is 1.0 grams specific gravity per cubic cm or 1 ml.
98.3% pure sulfuric acid weighs 1.84 grams specific gravity per 1ml.
Heat required = mass x specific heat x temperature change. 1 gram of water (H2O) takes 1 calorie to change the temperature 1 degree C.
Water (H2O) boils at 212 F or 100 C.
Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) boils at 640.4 F or 338 C.

To make concentrated sulfuric acid:
Take 100 ml of battery acid and place in a heat resistant container, Pyrex or equivalent and heat on a hot plate or equivalent heat source. Preferably out doors.

Weigh 1 ml of distilled H2O in a 10ml test tube or equivalent container on a small electronic scale in grams with at least + or – 1/10th gram accuracy. This should weigh 1.0 grams.

Remember to zero your meter with empty test tube on it in-order to get an accurate specific gravity weight.
Weigh 1 ml of the battery acid H2SO4 using the same procedure and you should come up with 1.20 to 1.25 SG per 1 ml. This can vary somewhat due to the charged state of the electrolyte (battery acid) no problem, this is just a relative reading.

Place hot plate in a metal container in case you have breakage or mishap. I use a metal foot tub. This also blocks the wind from the hot plate and allows it to be more efficient in heating.
Place a good grade glass thermometer in the solution and monitor.
Place on high heat and watch temperature until the solution reaches ~230 F or 110 C.

The solutions will be at a low boil and you will be able to see the boiling action and also observe the steam rising off it.
Maintain the temperature at 230 F until all boiling action stops. The steam will stop rising too.

Note: the amount of time for the solution to boil off all the water will be determined by the mass of your solutions. 100ml takes about 40 to 45 minutes. This may vary due to several factors, such as ambient temperature and quantity or volume of your solution.

Let the solution cool to room temperature and take 1 ml of it and weigh it like you did the battery acid. Take the remaining solution and measure the volume that is left. It should be ~ 35 ml this time you should have a specific gravity of ~1.80 per ml. if you have boiled all the water off the solution.

The remaining acid should be 90% plus if you measure 1.80 or above. Remember that pure H2SO4 (98.3% concentration) weighs 1.84 grams per ml. Just do the math and 1.84 -1.0 =.84 /.855 (theoretical 100% Concentration) = 98.3% Realistic concentration. Divide 1.855
into your last specific gravity weight and this product will be the percentage of concentration of your finished product. Example 1.80 -1.0 =.80/.855 = 93.6%. This should meet any requirements you may encounter in the gold recovery/refining business.

This sulfuric acid is very pure and has no additives or inhibitors. It is great for the electrolytic cell and many other uses such as making nitric acid.

Be careful. Hot acid burns.
If you have any questions send me an email or post.

Catfish
:wink: