First off, this is my first attempt to recover gold/silver from e-waste and even with hours upon hours of research I have already realized a few of my mistakes and hoping I can make some recovery from them. My issue is that I can not get any gold or silver to precipitate.
My process was putting computer boards into 1 part nitric and 1 part TAP water, not distilled (I know this was a mistake). After letting the metals dissolve completely and filtering out the gold flakes and trash from the solution, I tried to precipitate the silver from the nitric acid mix using non-iodized salt. I did not cement with copper but can try that if you think it will help.
With the gold foils I put in aqua regia but added nitric acid in small increments until all the gold foils dissolved. I then added SMB to solution until it stopped reacting and added a few spoonfulls afterwards but still no gold powder appeared at the bottom.
Another factor to keep in mind is I did this outside with the acids at points being exposed to cold temperatures. This also caused glass like crystals to form that I still have no idea what they are and could not find it anywhere doing my own research.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
My process was putting computer boards into 1 part nitric and 1 part TAP water, not distilled (I know this was a mistake). After letting the metals dissolve completely and filtering out the gold flakes and trash from the solution, I tried to precipitate the silver from the nitric acid mix using non-iodized salt. I did not cement with copper but can try that if you think it will help.
With the gold foils I put in aqua regia but added nitric acid in small increments until all the gold foils dissolved. I then added SMB to solution until it stopped reacting and added a few spoonfulls afterwards but still no gold powder appeared at the bottom.
Another factor to keep in mind is I did this outside with the acids at points being exposed to cold temperatures. This also caused glass like crystals to form that I still have no idea what they are and could not find it anywhere doing my own research.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!