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Steve
http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=313
Steve
Reactions of Nitrates: Comments / Questions
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For some reason, I was unable to watch the videos on FF or IE.
Soda ash - sodium carbonate - Na2CO3 - will do the same thing.
In my early years, I used sodium hydroxide (NaOH) a lot, for cleaning up solutions, but stopped when I realized it wasn't buying me anything. The metal hydroxides (MeOH) are very voluminous and took up about as much space as the solution I started with. They retain water (I seem to remember as much as 75%-90%) even though they feel dry. Filtering them is a real challenge.
Each metal, as a hydroxide, forms at a specific pH. Starting on the acid side, and adding NaOH, the MeOH's drop out in a definite order, starting at about pH 5.5-6.0. On paper, it would seem that you could get a clean separation of the various MeOH's, by adjusting the pH. In practice, this is very hard to do, as there is much cross contamination. I have tried this on several occasions, with some of my money making schemes.
The EPA tests solids for the presence of heavy metals by very slightly acidifying them to about a pH of 3 or 4 and then by analyzing the solution for the various heavy metals. Metals in metallic form will generally pass the test, since they don't dissolve. The MeOH's won't pass the test since they dissolve at that pH. In other words, MeOH's are toxic heavy metal wastes. Nothing has been gained by separating them from the solution, unless there's not much of them.
The iron or aluminum method of removing metals from solution is another story. The metal drops as metal, which usually isn't toxic waste, if you can rinse all of the chemicals out of it. The solution remaining is an iron or aluminum solution which is a very low level waste solution. I think this should be the way to go. Harold and Steve have made excellent posts covering this method which, I have a hard time finding. Maybe, they can outline a step by step.
This legal cleaning up of solutions might be the most important topic on this forum. We should all put our heads together.
The info on this forum is really getting spread out. One thread might have 5 topics on it. Nobody's fault - it just worked out that way. What would really be neat on this forum would be an index that is upgradeable. Dream on.
Soda ash - sodium carbonate - Na2CO3 - will do the same thing.
In my early years, I used sodium hydroxide (NaOH) a lot, for cleaning up solutions, but stopped when I realized it wasn't buying me anything. The metal hydroxides (MeOH) are very voluminous and took up about as much space as the solution I started with. They retain water (I seem to remember as much as 75%-90%) even though they feel dry. Filtering them is a real challenge.
Each metal, as a hydroxide, forms at a specific pH. Starting on the acid side, and adding NaOH, the MeOH's drop out in a definite order, starting at about pH 5.5-6.0. On paper, it would seem that you could get a clean separation of the various MeOH's, by adjusting the pH. In practice, this is very hard to do, as there is much cross contamination. I have tried this on several occasions, with some of my money making schemes.
The EPA tests solids for the presence of heavy metals by very slightly acidifying them to about a pH of 3 or 4 and then by analyzing the solution for the various heavy metals. Metals in metallic form will generally pass the test, since they don't dissolve. The MeOH's won't pass the test since they dissolve at that pH. In other words, MeOH's are toxic heavy metal wastes. Nothing has been gained by separating them from the solution, unless there's not much of them.
The iron or aluminum method of removing metals from solution is another story. The metal drops as metal, which usually isn't toxic waste, if you can rinse all of the chemicals out of it. The solution remaining is an iron or aluminum solution which is a very low level waste solution. I think this should be the way to go. Harold and Steve have made excellent posts covering this method which, I have a hard time finding. Maybe, they can outline a step by step.
This legal cleaning up of solutions might be the most important topic on this forum. We should all put our heads together.
The info on this forum is really getting spread out. One thread might have 5 topics on it. Nobody's fault - it just worked out that way. What would really be neat on this forum would be an index that is upgradeable. Dream on.
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goldsilverpro said:
This one is a real no-brainer. You don't use aluminum for one, and only one, reason------it's worth more than scrap steel. It works fine, otherwise.
All you have to do to precipitate base metals from your solutions is to place them in a plastic bucket and toss in some scrap steel. Pieces of angle iron, an old car axle, rebar, pieces of steel plate, assuming you're lucky enough to find such stuff. The choices are almost endless. As long as you don't have too much acid present, so it reacts with the metal being precipitated, this function goes on quietly. A 5 gallon bucket of solution should be free of heavy metals in 24 hours, and the color will have shifted from blue/green to pale green with signs of rust floating on the surface. It's real obvious when the metals are down.
One caution. The solution rusts anything it touches. If you use this procedure, it's not a bad idea to put the bucket inside a kiddy pool lined with paper, which can be changed on occasion to discard the splashes that come from the process. In the bottom of your bucket you'll find the copper that the solution contained, much the same as precipitating silver with copper. It has value, but it's nearly impossible to market, as I've stated previously. Melting it, for me, proved to be too expensive, but with copper over $2/lb, that may no longer be the case. Bottom line, precipitating base metals is dead easy, and need not be expensive.
Harold
