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Cheffrey17

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2023
Messages
46
Location
Houston, TX
Hello all! I’m back with another question/concern I have regarding silver extraction. I’ve successfully made my first two .5 gram gold buttons in the last couple weeks (yay!) and in the process of making those two I’ve been encountering a bunch of white/gray powder in my filters that I suspect is silver? When I dilute the aqua Regis with water it seems to form which leads me to think it actually is silver??

I’m not exactly sure but it doesn’t dissolve in aqua Regia, I’ve processed everything in either HCL or Nitric beforehand to remove lead/tin/solder and such, which by the way I mostly deal with e-scrap, so all I know is that it isn’t gold!

I’m heating the powders in some water to see if they dissolve. Here are a few pics of the powders that have been popping up at filtering.

I’m not sure what else to add so please ask me more questions if you need anymore insight as to what keeps popping up. I’m worried it’s a mix of tantalum, platinum, palladium, and silver which I have no experience with, I have a separate jar of liquid from another run I believe is filled with palladium, I just don’t know what to do with it so I set it aside!
 

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Cheffrey17 said:
Hello all! I’m back with another question/concern I have regarding silver extraction. I’ve successfully made my first two .5 gram gold buttons in the last couple weeks (yay!) and in the process of making those two I’ve been encountering a bunch of white/gray powder in my filters that I suspect is silver? When I dilute the aqua Regis with water it seems to form which leads me to think it actually is silver??

I’m not exactly sure but it doesn’t dissolve in aqua Regia, I’ve processed everything in either HCL or Nitric beforehand to remove lead/tin/solder and such, which by the way I mostly deal with e-scrap, so all I know is that it isn’t gold!

I’m heating the powders in some water to see if they dissolve. Here are a few pics of the powders that have been popping up at filtering.

I’m not sure what else to add so please ask me more questions if you need anymore insight as to what keeps popping up. I’m worried it’s a mix of tantalum, platinum, palladium, and silver which I have no experience with, I have a separate jar of liquid from another run I believe is filled with palladium, I just don’t know what to do with it so I set it aside!
Click to expand...
If it is from E-scrap its not PGMs nor much Silver.
You need to describe it in more detail.
Is it from a batch that has had HCl first and then Aqua Regia or Nitric first and then AR.
There is practically no Pt in e-scrap if it is high end there may be some Pd in some components.
But you NEVER process whole boards or mixed lots….
So more detail please.
 
Cheffrey17 said:
I actually just wanted to say I just now thought about cementing the palladium out with copper so I just went and stuck a copper bar in there, I’ll check it in the morning!
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum, when trying something do it on part of the solution, best to use very little. Then you don't have big messes.
Cheffrey17 said:
I’m not sure what else to add
Click to expand...
The more reason to take it slow and ask first, discuss and then try, instead of trying, then thinking if it was good to do, and asking after it went wrong.
Randomly adding stuff does not make it better.
Cementing on copper is a last resort, so that turned out ok.

I suspect you eighter have metastannic acid, AKA tin paste, combined with silver chloride or lead chloride.
What material did you process?
 
Martijn said:
Welcome to the forum, when trying something do it on part of the solution, best to use very little. Then you don't have big messes.

The more reason to take it slow and ask first, discuss and then try, instead of trying, then thinking if it was good to do, and asking after it went wrong.
Randomly adding stuff does not make it better.
Cementing on copper is a last resort, so that turned out ok.

I suspect you eighter have metastannic acid, AKA tin paste, combined with silver chloride or lead chloride.
What material did you process?
Click to expand...
Oh no no I didn’t mean add as in more chems to the solution I meant I don’t know what else to add to the post for more details to provide y’all! The pics are just from a few different runs but I seem to always get this type of powder. I process CPUs, gold pins/gold finger, several miscellaneous components with gold like gold band oscillators/LED/gold resistors/connectors etc.

I guess what I’m really asking with the pics is “does this look like silver chloride or silver nitrate”? I don’t know the difference between the two I’m not a chemist. Or it could also be some mix of lead and tin as well.

I have not actually done any mixing/chemistry in regards to this “silver powder”, I’m asking about here first before I do anything about it, that way I don’t mess it up like my first time!! 🙃

The cpus I processed through AP method, gold fingers I did nitric, I also tried gold pins in nitric as well but I think I should’ve just stuck those in AP.

Let me know if y’all have any other questions! Thanks for y’all’s help! I will also let y’all know what the powder looks after boiling water wash like when I get home.
 
Cheffrey17 said:
Oh no no I didn’t mean add as in more chems to the solution I meant I don’t know what else to add to the post for more details to provide y’all! The pics are just from a few different runs but I seem to always get this type of powder. I process CPUs, gold pins/gold finger, several miscellaneous components with gold like gold band oscillators/LED/gold resistors/connectors etc.

I guess what I’m really asking with the pics is “does this look like silver chloride or silver nitrate”? I don’t know the difference between the two I’m not a chemist. Or it could also be some mix of lead and tin as well.

I have not actually done any mixing/chemistry in regards to this “silver powder”, I’m asking about here first before I do anything about it, that way I don’t mess it up like my first time!! 🙃

The cpus I processed through AP method, gold fingers I did nitric, I also tried gold pins in nitric as well but I think I should’ve just stuck those in AP.

Let me know if y’all have any other questions! Thanks for y’all’s help! I will also let y’all know what the powder looks after boiling water wash like when I get home.
Click to expand...
Drop the “y’all” it is not proper English and do not translate well for non English speakers.
 
Like I’ve said it’s a conglomeration of all the filter powders I’ve been filtering out after the initial nitric or AP wash. I’ll put my material in either nitric acid or AP to remove any undesirables, then I’ll filter out the gold foils and the “mystery powder”, then dissolve in aqua Regia.

The powder goes in with the gold foils since I have no way of separating it, I don’t think it dissolves in aqua Regia it just gets filtered out at the end and that’s what the pics are, it’s what I’m left with after dropping the gold with SMB.

I understand that some if not most of the mystery powder is dissolved filter paper, however, the test I did today should confirm that there is some silver in this dried up mess since part of it turned brown/black after sitting in the sun today. Isn’t that right??
 
Cheffrey17 said:
Also the mystery powder was completely white/gray when I started boiling it in water last night if that helps
Click to expand...
It is not much so it will not be much of a loss. It is probably a mix of Metastannic acid, Silver Chloride and some oxides.
Silver Chloride should never be dried.
It is much harder to process that way.
Keep your processes separate please.
 
Hi Yggdrasil

Newbie question

I think I have some silver chloride, in solution.

I have filtered a couple of jars and got yellow to light brown sand and also a whiter sand.
It just swirls around the jar and settles for the most part.
I've added a bit of salt to a test jar, and it excites the solution a bit, then White cloudy stuff appears, some settles.
I have not got any stannous as of yet, so I am guessing in terms of identification.

Would adding zinc create metallic silver?
 

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Midasmitch said:
Hi Yggdrasil

Newbie question

I think I have some silver chloride, in solution.

I have filtered a couple of jars and got yellow to light brown sand and also a whiter sand.
It just swirls around the jar and settles for the most part.
I've added a bit of salt to a test jar, and it excites the solution a bit, then White cloudy stuff appears, some settles.
I have not got any stannous as of yet, so I am guessing in terms of identification.

Would adding zinc create metallic silver?
Click to expand...
You really need to study more before you touch your chemicals again!!
Silver Chloride are not soluble in any acid at all (a minute amount might be dissolved).
So you can not have Silver Chloride in solution.
Stannous will not do anything to Silver Chloride, but it will drop the Silver as Silver Chloride from a Silver Nitrate solution, so will Salt, HCl or any other Chloride!
Now go forth and study more, when you think you understand, come back with your plan and we will help you adjust it.

Edit for spelling
 
Last edited:
Absolutely..

I have rushed into this.
I have jarred everything..
Waiting for stannous...
Meanwhile getting into CM Hokes...
Learn before I burn

Thanks for the reprimand.
Coincidently today I saved a reaction in a tight bottle....Duh!
Thanks again i am downing tools and learning the rules

Peace
MM
 
Midasmitch said:
Absolutely..

I have rushed into this.
I have jarred everything..
Waiting for stannous...
Meanwhile getting into CM Hokes...
Learn before I burn

Thanks for the reprimand.
Coincidently today I saved a reaction in a tight bottle....Duh!
Thanks again i am downing tools and learning the rules

Peace
MM
Click to expand...
This may sound a little off, but did you use distilled water, or perhaps chlorinated tap water?
 

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