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jkenned5

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2023
Messages
19
Location
Ottawa Ontario
Long time reader from the shadows; decided to join the forum to see if I can gain more knowledge on the subject in order to attempt the recovery process at some point.

Currently in the planning process since this recession has put my hobbies on a back burner and I have no real funds to purchase equipment and chemicals.

I think I have around 10+ grams of gold and 30+ grams of silver in material which isn't much to some people on here but I think its a good start. I would also like to point out
that I'm not doing this for the money at all, I'm doing this to expand my knowledge of chemistry and to just have a hobby where most of the base components are free on
garbage day.

My material where I get my gold estimates from:
8 pounds of mixed transistors
15 pounds of mixed ic chips (dips/flatpacks)
350 grams of gold corner bga
2 pounds of DDR1 chips
1 pound of ram bga chips
1.5 pounds of gold fingers
2 pounds of ceramic ics (1 pound is white ceramic)

Countless TV boards (flatscreen and tube) waiting to be depopulated (need to wait since i broke my leg) and 5 more pounds of ram sticks.
 
Congratulations on joining. There is not much info on the real costs of what you are doing. When you start, would you make some notes on supplies, cost in hours of your time, basically some real life notes associated with the processes, and the end yield. It would be a great asset to this forum. Thank you.
 
Congratulations on joining. There is not much info on the real costs of what you are doing. When you start, would you make some notes on supplies, cost in hours of your time, basically some real life notes associated with the processes, and the end yield. It would be a great asset to this forum. Thank you.
These are my notes on supplies so far:
HCl (hydrochloric acid) - BUY Muriatic acid 31.45%(20$ 4L) and purify (distill) ~ 1.2L Pure acid

HNO3 (Nitric acid) - KN03 + H2S04

H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid) - BUY Battery acid 37%(52$ 18.9L) and purify (distill) ~ 7L Pure acid

Lead - wheel weights (for cupelling)
 
We appreciate the effort put forth here. A little curious why the effort to distill the acids to a higher percentage? If there is a reason, please state why so. If no reason, discount from costs involved. I don't mean to be so bossy, but am trying to get some real world, low costs, to refine e-scrap for other forum members. Trying to find real world costs for DIY refiners, to determine if it works monetarily, or just for the satisfaction of the science involved. Respectfully.
 
These are my notes on supplies so far:
HCl (hydrochloric acid) - BUY Muriatic acid 31.45%(20$ 4L) and purify (distill) ~ 1.2L Pure acid

I think Hydrochloric acid azeotropes at about 32%, breaking that azeotrope isn't easy (if even possible) in a home set up... nor is it necessary, it works fine at 31.45%.

Why are you cupelling?... I mean, I know why/how cupelling works.... But If you're dissolving the PM's, why not just reduce the metals out of solution, then melt.

As far as the nitric acid... looking at you're reactants it appears you plan on making fuming nitric acid. Making or using fuming nitric acid is generally discourage here on the forum. The reason is simple.... 99% of all you're reactions will require water. Why spend the time, money, effort and resources to remove the water today, just to have to add the water back into the reaction tomorrow. Add enough water to you're reactants to distill off at 68%....just my opinion.

By the way welcome to the forum.
 
I think Hydrochloric acid azeotropes at about 32%, breaking that azeotrope isn't easy (if even possible) in a home set up... nor is it necessary, it works fine at 31.45%.

Why are you cupelling?... I mean, I know why/how cupelling works.... But If you're dissolving the PM's, why not just reduce the metals out of solution, then melt.

As far as the nitric acid... looking at you're reactants it appears you plan on making fuming nitric acid. Making or using fuming nitric acid is generally discourage here on the forum. The reason is simple.... 99% of all you're reactions will require water. Why spend the time, money, effort and resources to remove the water today, just to have to add the water back into the reaction tomorrow. Add enough water to you're reactants to distill off at 68%....just my opinion.

By the way welcome to the forum.

Distill was written there to remind me to look if it is possible to do and if I could, what the benefits would be. I also had oxalic acid in my notes but didn't look into that at all yet.

Cupelling was just stuff I saw from a couple youtubers and figured I should look for sources of free lead if I ever try that process.

For the nitric acid I'm not sure; I saw a few processes where they showed how to get azeotropic nitric acid. The process to make it is just to learn since it seems you can purchase nitric for a lot less. By my estimates I can get MAYBE ~250ml from 40$ of KNO3.
 
I haven't price nitric in forever, so I'm not sure what's a good price, but $40 seems a bit high for 250ml's. But.... if your buying it to gain some experience with it, then it's worth the cost.

Caution must be taken with sulfuric acid, it's annoying to get a little on your skin at room temp. But, the hotter you get it, the more of a monster it becomes. Boiling sulfuric acid will scare you for life and the vapors will destroy your lungs.... Of course, all the other chemicals are extremely harmful to your lungs as well.

You may already know this, but some of the newer wheel weights are zinc and not lead. You can test them with a pair of wire cutters, zinc ones are hard to bit into.

I would spend some more time studying before you dive into this hobby. Then maybe start with some small experiments.
 
I haven't price nitric in forever, so I'm not sure what's a good price, but $40 seems a bit high for 250ml's. But.... if your buying it to gain some experience with it, then it's worth the cost.

Caution must be taken with sulfuric acid, it's annoying to get a little on your skin at room temp. But, the hotter you get it, the more of a monster it becomes. Boiling sulfuric acid will scare you for life and the vapors will destroy your lungs.... Of course, all the other chemicals are extremely harmful to your lungs as well.

You may already know this, but some of the newer wheel weights are zinc and not lead. You can test them with a pair of wire cutters, zinc ones are hard to bit into.

I would spend some more time studying before you dive into this hobby. Then maybe start with some small experiments.
Glad you agree on learning the process; the second video was actually how to process leftover waste back into nitric for re-use.

I appreciate the caution and I will be proceeding slowly and surely to make sure every hazard is respected and properly assessed. I should have mentioned I do have a B.Sc so I'm not running in completely blind.

For the wheel weights I have no trouble distinguishing between zinc/iron/lead weights

I agree 100% on study; I'm not in any rush to extract and I'm fairly broke so I have plenty of time to learn proper procedures and acquire more material. I do what I can with the $$ I do have at the moment and I've been focusing a lot on improving depopulation of the circuit boards.

Since my leg is busted however my mound of boards lay waiting in the shed to be depopulated. Once my leg is healed I will have a lot less free time (getting sent to Basic training) but hopefully more finances to get proper lab equipment.
 
Rooto is a professional drain cleaner it is 93%sulfuric acid with no inhibitors. Only 30dollars a gallon really no need to distil to concentrate. If you get the rooto. Then purchase a container of spectricide stump remover 10.00 disolve 2cups in 3cups of water generally heating the water will help get it in to solution. Remove from heat pour into clean glass container allow to cool over night in refigerator. Once it is cooled drain and rinse the crystals several times with cold water. The crystals are pure potassium nitrate. Place on front of fan for a few days storing ocationally it needs to be dry. If not using right away vacuum seal to prevent from drawing moisture. Use that and the rooto sulfuric acid distill. The end product will be nitirc acid it will make more than 250ml. When distilling the idea heat is 317that is when you will produce the most concentrated nitric. Do this out side or in a vent hood. Fumes are extreamly hazardous.
 
These are my notes on supplies so far:
HCl (hydrochloric acid) - BUY Muriatic acid 31.45%(20$ 4L) and purify (distill) ~ 1.2L Pure acid

HNO3 (Nitric acid) - KN03 + H2S04

H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid) - BUY Battery acid 37%(52$ 18.9L) and purify (distill) ~ 7L Pure acid

Lead - wheel weights (for cupelling)
Ontario Canada chem supply.

ALPHACHEM LIMITED
2485 Milltower Court
Mississauga, Ontario L5N 5Z6
Tel: (905) 821 - 2995
Fax: (905) 821 - 2660
 
Wheel weights, you'll find a lot of zinc weights mixed in with the lead, some Fe weights as well..

Separating the zinc from the lead is easy, melt the weights zinc floats onto of the lead and cools faster , skim it off.
 
These are my notes on supplies so far:
HCl (hydrochloric acid) - BUY Muriatic acid 31.45%(20$ 4L) and purify (distill) ~ 1.2L Pure acid

HNO3 (Nitric acid) - KN03 + H2S04

H2SO4 (Sulfuric acid) - BUY Battery acid 37%(52$ 18.9L) and purify (distill) ~ 7L Pure acid

Lead - wheel weights (for cupelling)
Hydrochloric acid has an azeotrope of 21% ish, so if you distill 31.45% you end up with 21%.
Unless you have special equipment.
Battery acid will do fine for your poor mans Nitric, but it will contain some Sulfates after conversion.
 
I've always thought Hydrochloric azeotrope was 31.45% ish, maybe I should read up on it.

A Note About Concentration​

Muriatic acid isn't pure hydrochloric acid, nor is there a standard concentration. It's important to check the product label to know the concentration.

Some industrial suppliers offer muriatic acid that is 31.5 percent HCl by mass (20 Baumé). However, other common dilutions include 29 percent and 14.5 percent.

hcl.jpg

hcl2.jpg
 
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