How to recover gold with Salt and Vinegar - Part 2

On to part 2 recovering the foils.  There are two ways this is accomplished, with and without Hydrochloric Acid.  In chatting with sreetips on YouTube I found that filtering the light blue liquid clogs the filters.  He suggested using some HCL to dissolve the light blue foam.  I did not get photos of this process.  I used a bit of tap water to wash down the sides of the beaker.  Then I added 100ml of HCL 25ml at a time.  It took all 100ml to dissolve the light blue foam and make it a green liquid.  Then I ran it through a strainer into a 5 gallon bucket.

What was left behind in the beaker.

Take time to wash every piece of trimmed circuit boards to make sure no gold foil remains.  A lot will fall through the strainer.

Keep cleaning the fingers and separate them into different groups.  The clean fingers are now just fiberglass boards and can be discarded.  Pieces with foil will have to be run again. Gold foils in another beaker.

Keep adding more water and wash the gold.  You want to keep all the gold you can in a bucket.  Strain into a beaker with a coffee filter or two paper towels.  Do this until the water is clear.

Once all the blue water is taken off the foils save it for part 3.  Wash the gold foils into a clean container so they can be refined later.

Next time part 3 what to do with the waste liquid.

How to recover gold with Salt and Vinegar - Part 1

Over on YouTube a channel run by sreetips has a series of 3 videos on How To Recover Gold Computer Scrap With Salt And Vinegar.  It is a well documented series and gives a great step by step on the process.  In sreetips demonstration he is using 500 grams of trimmed circuit card fingers.  I don't have that many saved up and don't buy them from eBay.  My experiment will use 200 grams of trimmed circuit fingers.

What I need for this experiment is:

• 200 grams trimmed circuit fingers.  Gold fingers only, no solder or components.
• 94 grams by weight sea salt
• 800 ml white vinegar
• 80 ml hydrogen peroxide 

You will also need a glass vessel to hold 2000 ml of liquid, saucer to cover the glass vessel, aquarium air pump and air line.  Install the air line and pour the trimmed circuit fingers on top of the air line to hold it down.  Mix the salt and vinegar and dissolve the salt.  Add it to the main glass vessel.  If any salt is undissolved use a little bit of vinegar to wash it into the main vessel.  Turn on the air and then add the hydrogen peroxide.  Place the saucer on top and record the date/time you started it at.  It is also not a bad idea to place the whole thing into another dish in case anything breaks.

In about 2 hours the solution will turn blue, light blue.  Twenty Four hours later it will be a dark blue.  You may also see gold foils floating around as well.  Make sure to stir it every 24 hours.

Around 24-30 hours the solution will start to look light blue.  But not really liquid, kinda like a blue foam.  This is normal.  Continue to stir every 24 hours and let it work.  Make sure none of the gold foils stick to your stir stick.

Next part will cover getting the gold foils.

Lab Glass

Is it a requirement?  NO.  It looks cool but is not necessary.  Personally I bought lab glass on eBay.  I started out with beakers so I could measure liquids in a exact fashion.

For $20.15 I was able to order a 5 piece beaker seat for  $20.15.  It included 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 ml beakers.

Additionally I ordered a 2000ml beaker for $21.42.

Both sets of glass are made by Karter Scientific. 

All of this included shipping.  I will order more lab glass as needed.

New blog, New mission

SWF-EWaste

New blog and a new mission.  We all buy electronics and we all out grow them and upgrade, but what about what we throw away.  That is what this blog is about.  Just cause we upgrade does not mean we just put the past in the trash.  As responsible stewards of the planet we must take care of it.

Putting the computer and electronic waste will pollute the landfills.  We need to keep that out of there.  Platinum, Gold, Silver and copper need not be buried.  It can be used over and over again.  It can also be used as a means to secure wealth.  There is nothing wrong with capitalism and saving for your future.

I will show you how to recover precious metals from E-Waste in small batches and save for the future.

Who can do this?  Anyone from dumpster divers to those who work in the electronics industry.  The dumpster divers can thrive behind computer repair shops, and those in the industry can stock boards through non-reworkable parts.  You can also buy stuff on eBay, but expect not to make a lot.  Prices get inflated due to bidding.