Should I try adding SMB to my Hydrochloric Acid and H2O2 waste?

[Akureyi]

First time post - Very new to everything and I've got a question

I feel like I have watched countless Youtube videos to try to recover the gold from a lot of wasted electronics, RAM, Video Cards, Hard Drive Circuit boards, etc. I thought I had a decent understanding to try my hand at it.

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Quick Summary:
As I understood it, the first step is dissolving the copper and nickel that the gold is plated to on the circuit boards with Hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide and a 2:1 ratio for about a week. Then draining and collecting the fallen gold foils.

Then you would dissolve the gold by using Aqua Regia (3:1 Hydrochloric acid and nitric acid) and precipitate it out with Sodium Metabisulfite. Then you could collect the gold dust and melt it into a bead.
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All that said, I've now found this video from Sreetips on Youtube that uses the Hydrogen Peroxide mixture to dissolve his gold dust and it comes out the same color as if he had used Aqua Regia. My question is, if the Hyrdogen Peroxide can dissolve the gold, why use Aqua Regia at all? Should I be suspicious that the green mixture that my eWaste is soaking in contains dissolved gold?

Once its all done, should I try added SMB to the mixture and see if I get any gold to precipitate?

 

[Jimbriese]

Test your solution with Stannous chloride. That will tell you if you have gold in solution.

Using that much H2O2 can dissolve the gold.

YouTube has lots of bad info.

Read hokes book links to it can be found in the Guided tour
Follow the guided tour. Including the safety, and waste treatments

 

[Jimbriese]

Also when making AR cover gold with HCL heat then add nitric drop by drop let the reaction go till completion then add more if there is still gold left. Otherwise you will have an excess of nitric and the gold will redesolve and not precipitate

 

[Akureyi]

Also when making AR cover gold with HCL heat then add nitric drop by drop let the reaction go till completion then add more if there is still gold left. Otherwise you will have an excess of nitric and the gold will redesolve and not precipitate

Thanks for that tip

 

[cejohnsonsr1]

Hydrogen peroxide is an alternative method for dissolving gold. Bleach will do it too. But neither of those is as effective as nitric. The green in your waste solution is probably mostly copper unless you have some silver in it. Cement the silver with copper. Then cement the remaining base metals with iron. Then the solution can be neutralized with baking soda and dumped.

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hydrogen peroxide is an alternative method for dissolving gold. Bleach will do it too. But neither of those is as effective as nitric. The green in your waste solution is probably mostly copper unless you have some silver in it. Cement the silver with copper. Then cement the remaining base metals with iron. Then the solution can be neutralized with baking soda and dumped.

It may still have salts in it, so when it is neutral and clear, if one have the time and space let it just naturally evaporate.
Then hand in the solids to a suitable place, same as the first solids from the solution usually. Most places in the world this is not expensive

 

[Biom]

Use stannous chloride .you may have some gold in the first solution .you may desolved some gold as long as the other material .make sure you use stannous chloride

 

[Biom]

If there is gold in your solution decant the liquid precipate and add that to other solid and make A R .heat nitric drop by drop . Precipate with deferent precipitant .wach the powder .melt .sale

 

[Biom]

Next time do the nitric acid -50 water .not hcl and then AR .hcl don't dissolve cooper you need to take of as much base metal using nitric first .

 

[Shark]

Hydrochloric acid will not dissolve gold alone. It needs oxygen. Let it sit open to air long enough and copper will start to dissolve. Use an air pump such as a fish aquarium uses and it will dissolve copper even faster. Add a single cap full of hydrogen peroxide and it will start faster. Add copper oxide and air and it will start faster. With all that said you do not need to add more than one of those items and hydrochloric acid to create a working copper etchant. My favorite is the aquarium pump or a working oxygen generator.

Copper oxide and hydrochloric acid is known as copper(ll)chloride. Often known as AP.