palladium plated wire

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arthur kierski

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Joined
Feb 10, 2008
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Location
são paulo---brazil
I have pd plated wire that i want to deplate---this wire contains 1,7grams of pd per kilo and 0,15grams of gold gold per kilo----I had recuperated these pd and gold using ntric acid first---pd goes to solution ,ad gold stays in the filter paper----then i purified the pd containing in the nitric solution ,and the gold with ar from the filter paper------the problem is that i have 80kilos of this wire monthly,and 900kilos of acumulated of this wire---- i did recuperate from 60kilos of this plated wire,102grams ofpd,and 9grams of gold--so my method works, I need help from forum friends,to find a way to deplate this wire with a stipper solution---like people deplate gold from gold plated wires ,or gold pins. If anyone have a knowledge of a pd stipper,please help me----or another method is also welcomed---Thanks in advance to all -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Arthur Kierski
 
Arthur what is the wire made of that the palladium is plated onto.

I'm stripping catalytic foils which are stainless steel with a high nickle content by plating out a bit of nickle which undermines the wash coat which then falls off as a powder.

Have another cell set up stripping mother boards, parting out the tin from the solder leaving the silver behind as a cell slime.
 
Arthur I don’t think such a solution exists because I believe it’s plated over copper which will dissolve before the Pd, I still think a copper cell is the way to go as you get the copper back and the values will be concentrated in the slimes.
 
Nickcw,could you please elaborate a copper cell----it would help me a lot--------then you said that a stripper would dissolve the copper and leave behind the pd---but ,that is what i want---regards -----------------------------------Arthur
 
From Ammens book.

ELECTROLYTIC COPPER REFINING
Electrolytic copper can be produced from primary copper, secondary copper, or a combination of the two.

The primary type comes from copper ore and is brought to the stage of crude impure copper by
various primary copper recovery methods—leaching, crushing, smelting, poling. The secondary type comes from scrap wire, electronic scrap, cheap gold-filled jewelry, eyeglass frames, and so forth.

The crude copper is mixed with secondary copper scrap and cast into huge anodes. The mix is figured to give a cast anode of approximately 96% copper, the remainder being precious metals with traces of many
other elements—such as zinc, nickel, and tellurium—depending upon the source.

A great amount of today's primary gold recovery is from copper refining, where the gold values exist in the copper ore. The cells for electrolytic refining carry a great many anodes and cathodes and support a large-volume business. However, a single anode and single cathode cell will serve to illustrate their operation. See Figure 7-1.

The crude copper is the anode, and a pure copper starting sheet is the cathode. The electrolyte is made by dissolving, in distilled water, copper sulphate (CuSOJ, a copper salt that is approximately 25%
copper. Some sulphuric acid is added as free acid to increase the conductivity of the bath.

A typical copper-refining acid bath, in miniature, would be: 250 grams per liter of copper sulphate, and 75 grams per liter of sulphuric acid; a bath operating temperature of 70° to 120°F; a voltage of 6 to
8 volts; and a current density in amperes of from 20 to 100 amperes per square foot of cathode surface.

Copper from the crude copper anode goes into solution and the positive ions of pure copper ( C u ) are carried over to the cathode by electromotive force through the electrolyte, where they are neutralized
 
Bcgold,the wire is copper plated with pd----thanks for asking---- regards-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Arthur
 
If it were me I would turn all that copper into copper sulfate your precious metals will settle out just as they would in a copper parting cell.

For the inexperienced cell operator :mrgreen: you'll experience a lot of copper nodules falling from the cathode into the slime's, and the cell is very slow.

A divided cell with a salt bridge or membrane to keep the slime's free of unwanted copper might work.

If you could find a buyer for the copper sulfate its worth a lot more than copper metal.
 
If you add heat you can super saturate your acid just be sure to decant from the slime's before it cools down or you're going to have a layer of crystals to deal with.

You also have a msg.
 
Arthur,

Melt material into solid bars, prior to pouring the bar, stir the melt with a piece of wood. This will help reduce the copper oxide.

Using electrolyte comprised of 125 g CuSO4*5H20 / L in 12% H2SO4 (and a drop of HCl/liter and a small amount of gelatin), use the solid bar you melted as the anode and two pieces of stainless steel sheet as the cathode.

You can drill a hole through the copper/palladium bar and hang it.

Use a low voltage high amperage power supply...approximately 1.5-3volt and 150 A per square meter of anode. Works best at elevated temp (60 deg C) with lots of circulation.

Works best if you use polypropylene cloth filter material to make a bag to wrap the anode in. Lots of circulation in the bath (bubbler under the bag). Just leave it alone. All of the copper will move from the anode to the cathode, leaving palladium in the polypropylene bag.

You can now sell the copper as copper scrap.

If you can source from the US, you can buy anode bags for less than $5/ea from anode products.
https://www.anodeproducts.com/

Please don't try to process 900kg of copper by making copper sulfate via acid.

The electrolytic method is slow, but is steady.
 
No need to dissolve all copper, use H2SO4>91% instead (note: 7.5v is for gold, probably you'll need a lower voltage)
 

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Snoman,thanks---i use nitric to dissolve the pd plated wire--too much brown fumes---i am trying to change the method---electrolitic method takes too much time--copper anodes impregnated with pms and using the anodes bags to collect the pms, i did it 20 years ago with cats-----thanks====Arthur
 
You may want to try this combination (not supposed to react with palladium) 10NH4OH : 3.5H2O2:10H2O copper etchant
 
What we see here is 10X35 = 350g NH4OH, 3.5X34 = 119g H2O2, 10X18 = 180g H2O, So I assume the intent is concentrated (28%) ammoniac : concentrated (30%) hydrogen peroxide 3:1, with (possible) water addition. I would also try another copper etcher, persulphate + acid although thermodynamics predicts palladium will react with it. But if the reaction is towards PdO, then it is worth trying
 
Thanks again Lino---i will experience your formulation--if the pd dissolves,i will withdraw it from the solution--if the pd does not dissolve,i will filtrate it out of the solution----anyway ,it works for me----because my aim is not use Nitric to dissolve the wires-----thanks again---------By the way,i used once fecl3 as a etchant,and it worked partially.------yours -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Arthur Kierski
 

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