Laser printer heating elements, ruthenium?

[Richard TJ]

Read the whole of this thread from end to end (will be doing a lot of posting on this forum I think!)- The big recyclers DON'T and I repeat DON'T recover these precious metals. They only care about volumes. Over here in the UK EMR and SIMMS simpy shred the lot, seperate into ferrous, plastic, glass and non-ferrous, but precious metals are usually lost as they're bonded onto some other substrate. I've been looking for a reason to expand operations and for the small e-waste recycler like us, this is the specialist route that will probably give us the edge.

 

[redtogreen]

Read the whole of this thread from end to end (will be doing a lot of posting on this forum I think!)- The big recyclers DON'T and I repeat DON'T recover these precious metals. They only care about volumes. Over here in the UK EMR and SIMMS simpy shred the lot, seperate into ferrous, plastic, glass and non-ferrous, but precious metals are usually lost as they're bonded onto some other substrate. I've been looking for a reason to expand operations and for the small e-waste recycler like us, this is the specialist route that will probably give us the edge.

Drop me a PM - we do about an artic a week of printers. Value=zero

 

[Chumbawamba]

I've been compiling a database for mainly inkjet printing devices (and other otherwise worthless e-scrap) here:

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=6696

The primary target in these is the small amounts of gold in various places.

Inspired by this discussion, I've been investigating laser printers but so far I haven't come up with anything definitive. Based on the Wikipedia entry on laser printers, I'm suspecting that higher end models may be more likely to have a heating element containing precious metals.

Some printers use a very thin flexible metal fuser roller, so there is less mass to be heated and the fuser can more quickly reach operating temperature. This both speeds printing from an idle state and permits the fuser to turn off more frequently to conserve power.

If paper moves through the fuser more slowly, there is more roller contact time for the toner to melt, and the fuser can operate at a lower temperature. Smaller, inexpensive laser printers typically print slowly, due to this energy-saving design, compared to large high speed printers where paper moves more rapidly through a high-temperature fuser with a very short contact time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_printer

I'm still working at it and have a mountain of laser printers to go through. I'll report back if/when I find something good.

 

[DarkspARCS]

Thanks for your efforts on the copier database!

So I can safely assume then that high speed industrial photocopiers like xerox and pitney bowes are the units that possess these heating elements then, and not the personal copier types like hp and epson?

 

[qst42know]

The machines I opened were desk top units. Two heated with the ceramic elements and one with the quartz lamps.

 

[Ocean]

Has anyone discovered the viablility, or amounts of PMs to be had from these components?

If it comes that there is a good reason to, I can supply some of these components.

 

[solar_plasma]

Well, well, since that time the palladium spot price has gone from 400 to 730+ $....

I've just taken such an heating element out of a HP1200. Can anyone tell me, if the Pd is only in the contact or in the whole module?

 

[solar_plasma]

Ok, when you hold it against the light, you can see the metalplating, it's through the whole stick. I've measure it's thickness, areal and....calculated volume times 11,9g/ccm3 it is: :shock: 2,9788328591 g

...So, it may be at least :!: 1g. The whole stick weighs 7 g. Looks quite like silver....I'll find out...

 

[Chiptech81]

Was it the square silver looking plates that are PD?
The heating element looks familar to one from HP LJ4000 series, and many others in this range. Seen many like this when repairing printers.
I shall have to keep these to one side from now on.

 

[solar_plasma]

No, it's on the whole length. My measurings may be incorrect since the ceramic is not equal all over to the 1/100 of a mm and I don't know how correct I can measure.

...but if this is palladium....YUMMIE!

 

[solar_plasma]

Does anybody know, if the ceramic contains beryllium oxide?

If nobody knows,it may be smartest to crush them under water and dispose any white powder as "possibly BeO".

 

[qst42know]

This post was a long time ago. I haven't found any more since. If you find them in quantity they may be worth further testing.

 

[squarecoinman]

Any idea of the weight yield of the precious metal from one such heating element? Half a gram maybe?

The weight of two elements ceramic and all is about 10g I would expect the yield to be a small fraction of a gram. I found a repair parts outfit selling replacement fuser elements for $29. If you had a bucket full they may be worth processing.

when they are bought in bulk they cost 8 us, so i guess there is less then 4 us in PM in them.

scm

 

[necromancer]

DMG is (CH3)2NCH2COOH

is it the same as this....... ?? thank you

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2-Bottles-DM...n_0&hash=item46073b2ac2&_uhb=1#ht_2700wt_1186

 

[solar_plasma]

No.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethylglyoxime

 

[necromancer]

thank you