Poor Man's Aqua Regia
- Thread starter Akragon
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Still working out thread making... sorry
So... in my studies i've learned that mixing HCL and bleach will dissolve gold and base metals. And HCL with peroxide (3%) and a bit of copper will also do the trick... needed to try this. So as a small experiment i mixed both HCL and bleach, and the latter. The HCL peroxide did nothing but i didn't add any copper. I set that aside and attempted the HCL and bleach. Immediately i could smell strong chlorine! So i covered it with some water in the bottom of my base dish. It slowly Dissipated and eventually the chlorine gas wasn't detectable. It was a little scary. Once it was safe i took small pieces of what i knew was gold and tossed them into the mix... and nothing happened. I expected it to disapear immediately for some reason. So i cracked a beer and went for a smoke. When i came back the third picture was left. I caught it just as the last bit of the unknown gold dissolved. The 18k was gone!
Just tossed a few shreds of a 10k chain in there to see if it would work on solid material, not just shells.
Could i sprinkle a touch of Smb and get that tiny bit of gold out of this solution?
So... in my studies i've learned that mixing HCL and bleach will dissolve gold and base metals. And HCL with peroxide (3%) and a bit of copper will also do the trick... needed to try this. So as a small experiment i mixed both HCL and bleach, and the latter. The HCL peroxide did nothing but i didn't add any copper. I set that aside and attempted the HCL and bleach. Immediately i could smell strong chlorine! So i covered it with some water in the bottom of my base dish. It slowly Dissipated and eventually the chlorine gas wasn't detectable. It was a little scary. Once it was safe i took small pieces of what i knew was gold and tossed them into the mix... and nothing happened. I expected it to disapear immediately for some reason. So i cracked a beer and went for a smoke. When i came back the third picture was left. I caught it just as the last bit of the unknown gold dissolved. The 18k was gone!
Just tossed a few shreds of a 10k chain in there to see if it would work on solid material, not just shells.
Could i sprinkle a touch of Smb and get that tiny bit of gold out of this solution?
Edited for ClarificationStill working out thread making... sorry
So... in my studies i've learned that mixing HCL and bleach will dissolve gold and base metals. And HCL with peroxide (3%) and a bit of copper will also do the trick... needed to try this. So as a small experiment i mixed both HCL and bleach, and the latter. The HCL peroxide did nothing but i didn't add any copper. I set that aside and attempted the HCL and bleach. Immediately i could smell strong chlorine! So i covered it with some water in the bottom of my base dish. It slowly Dissipated and eventually the chlorine gas wasn't detectable. It was a little scary. Once it was safe i took small pieces of what i knew was gold and tossed them into the mix... and nothing happened. I expected it to disapear immediately for some reason. So i cracked a beer and went for a smoke. When i came back everything dissolved!
Just tossed a few shreds of a 10k chain in there to see if it would work on solid material, not just shells.
Could i sprinkle a touch of Smb and get that tiny bit of gold out of this solution?
You need to study a bit more mate.Still working out thread making... sorry
So... in my studies i've learned that mixing HCL and bleach will dissolve gold and base metals. And HCL with peroxide (3%) and a bit of copper will also do the trick... needed to try this. So as a small experiment i mixed both HCL and bleach, and the latter. The HCL peroxide did nothing but i didn't add any copper. I set that aside and attempted the HCL and bleach. Immediately i could smell strong chlorine! So i covered it with some water in the bottom of my base dish. It slowly Dissipated and eventually the chlorine gas wasn't detectable. It was a little scary. Once it was safe i took small pieces of what i knew was gold and tossed them into the mix... and nothing happened. I expected it to disapear immediately for some reason. So i cracked a beer and went for a smoke. When i came back the third picture was left. I caught it just as the last bit of the unknown gold dissolved. The 18k was gone!
Just tossed a few shreds of a 10k chain in there to see if it would work on solid material, not just shells.
Could i sprinkle a touch of Smb and get that tiny bit of gold out of this solution?
This things about adding a bit of this a bit of that can go bad.
You need to make a plan where you have an idea on what happens when and why.
How it will behave and such.
HCl/Bleach will dissolve some Gold, but is best for fine powder and foils. Be ware of the pH, it needs to be low on the acidic side.
HCl/Peroxide will also dissolve Gold, but as with Bleach it is best for foils and powder. The Peroxide should be 12% or higher to do it in reasonable time.
Anything with appreciable amounts of Silver will not dissolve in Chloride based leaches due to the formation of Silver Chloride.
How did you add your Bleach to the HCl?
I prefer to use pool chlorine tablets, they release the Chlorine much slower and will not mess up the pH in the sdame way as Bleach.
Your over all description makes me doubt if your Gold is Gold?
For the SMB to work properly the solution needs to be acidic I try to keep it not higher than 2
So so true. This never works for me. As it's been said on here many times. Garbage in! Garbage out! Try and keep things separate until you learn what can be added, if it can be added at all.
Best to try Aquaregia ( HCL: HNO3 in the proportion of 3 : 1 ) in a fuming hood with an outlet for N2O fumes to a scrubber with Soda Ash solution. Remember, Aquaregia works well only if silver content is less than 10% and the reaction pot is having a stirring arrangement. Filtering of solution and ppt with either FeSo4 or SMBS.
Usually the 3:1 ratio to make aqua regia is way too much nitric. What I was taught by the forum is that you want to add the nitric in very small incremental doses, with a pipette. Slowly add nitric and then waiting for it to react and dissolve the gold. This way you don't end up with too much nitric.
Welcome to us.
But I have to correct you a bit here:
Your advice is not correct, you will "always" add too much Nitric this way, which will create problems later.
This is where most of the Youtube students start using their Urea to overcome their problem, which is also wrong.
Use your Urea as fertilizer in the garden and then get some Sulfamic acid for destroying the excess Nitric.
And it is SodiumMetaBisulfite at least that is what we call it here, I believe you accidentally added a S too much
or not.Anyway the best way of using Aqua Regia is like this.
You add sufficient HCl and add Nitric in increments until it don't react any more or all is dissolved.
If all have not dissolved then add some more HCl in case the HCl is depleted, if no reaction add small amounts of Nitric.
This will have to be done hot around 70-80 Centigrade.
Have you read the book from C.M. Hoke we recommend here?
Do you have a refining or chemistry back ground?
So... i ended up seeing if some 10k gold links from a chain would dissolved in said solution.... it took about three days but it ended up disappearing. The links were very tiny but they did dissolve completely... i used about a 50/50 mixture
What is said solution?
AR, poormans AR ir HCl/Bleach?
50/50 HCL bleach
You never use HCl/Bleach that way.
You just neutralizing the HCl and flush the Chlorine into the air.
Both dangerous and wasteful!
Have you not studied the technique of using HCl/Bleach on the forum?
First it need to be cold or the Chlorine gas escape before it can do any work.
Next you add a little at the time and cover the reaction vessel to keep the Chlorine gas in there for as long as possible.
Next check pH regularily and add more HCl if needed.
I have not found a technique on our forum for bleach and Hcl.. could you give me a link?
the solution was room temp.
So with this 50/50, will i be able to drop the gold with smb? i know theres barely any gold in that mix.... but i will add more if i need to so i can get a result.
I don't Want you to do my work for me...I would just appreciate some guidance on this. Keep in mind this is a Small experiment, fumes have been taken care of
Edited: Im going to toss more into this and see IF it still dissolves more gold....
Edited: Im going to toss more into this and see IF it still dissolves more gold....
Make sure it is still acidic.
We shall see...
You are right if you are trying something in a laboratory space. The HCL has to be added first and nitric acid in two or three batches at intervals till the brown fumes of nitrous oxide disappear. Instead of 3 :1 ratio, you can even try 4:1 if the concentration of HNO3 is less. Once the brown fumes disappear, put a bit of urea slowly which will help remove excess nitric acid that has remained unreacted ( this is essential for efficient recovery of all dissolved gold).
