Extract gold from electrical engineering. Refining radio components: methods for extracting various precious metals at home

In his quest to get gold, man knows no bounds. It is well known that Russian and Soviet-made radio components contain gold. There are different answers to the question: how to extract it? Not all methods can be used at home.

It's in trash like this that you can find gold.

Which way to obtain gold should you choose to solve this problem? Only those whose use requires aqua regia. How to get gold from radio components using it? First, you need to correctly select the radio components themselves, from which it is possible to extract gold.

Where is the gold?

A rather labor-intensive, painstaking process, which is based on metal refining. To extract this precious metal from other substances and components, it is necessary to separate it from impurities.

Extracting gold from Soviet-made radio components will bring a greater amount of precious metal than if the operation were performed on Russian parts. Foreign radio components contain the least amount of this precious raw material. Obtaining precious metal from them can give zero results.

Do-it-yourself gold extraction

A common mistake made by many “at-home gold miners” is that they try to extract gold from yellow parts. They just may not contain noble metal. This metal is found in microcircuits, transistors, diodes, relays, and glass electrodes. It is possible to extract this valuable raw material from waveguides, clocks, and PCB switches. Before mining gold, it is necessary to calculate the expected amount of reagents. This will need to be done based on the weight of the radio components, the percentage of gold and the possible volume of precious metal at the output.

Gold plated watch from Soviet times

Extraction of this precious metal is possible not only from radio components. In Soviet times, metal watch cases were also covered with a thin layer of gold. The method for obtaining the precious metal here will be the same as for extracting gold from radio components. Once items containing this valuable metal are collected, they should be cleaned of dust and dirt. Mining gold at home is not only a labor-intensive, but also a dangerous process.

You will have to work with chemicals that pose a threat to life and health. It is necessary to know about this and take measures to protect the body from chemical poisoning and burns.

What is aqua regia used for?

A person ignorant of chemistry may think that we are talking about alcohol. Extracting gold and purifying it from impurities using alcohol-containing substances is impossible. A mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid is what aqua regia is. How to get it? It is simple and will not be difficult for a person who has completed a school chemistry course. Concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids are mixed. The percentage of the latter should be 40%. That is, per liter of nitric acid you will need approximately 250-300 ml of hydrochloric acid.

Regardless of whether gold mining is carried out at home or in the laboratory, you must take care of the appropriate containers for chemical reagents. Extraction of gold and preparation of all components necessary for this procedure are carried out only in glass containers.

If acids are mixed, the container itself is placed in ice water. No haste or carelessness when performing such a procedure is acceptable. The resulting mixture of acids is slowly and thoroughly mixed - and the aqua regia is ready. It is a very dangerous and unique reagent because it is capable of dissolving almost any objects and substances. It is believed that gold is not able to dissolve any drug on Earth. Royal vodka is an exception.

Mixture of acids - aqua regia

In order to proceed to the next stage of the gold mining operation, the mixture must be heated. When its temperature is 60-70° C, the parts are carefully immersed in aqua regia. You can, of course, not clean them of dust and dirt, but then the solution of nitric and hydrochloric acids will quickly become contaminated.

The same thing will happen if plastic elements of equipment are loaded together with radio components.

About the dangers and results of chemical processes

Having lowered the radio components to where the gold is located (in aqua regia), you must be patient, since the dissolution reaction lasts on average 6 hours and is considered terminated when the components are completely dissolved. Windows and doors to the house should under no circumstances be closed at this time. When other metals are present, an intensive process of releasing nitrogen oxide occurs.

Outwardly, it looks like yellow smoke. This “special effect” is very dangerous for the human body. One breath of nitric oxide and a person loses consciousness. To this day, it is not uncommon for people who turn a house into a gold extraction laboratory to die. No doctors have time to help them: death occurs in a matter of minutes.

As soon as the gold has dissolved in aqua regia, we must move on to the next stage of “mining at home.” The gold sediment itself is not noticeable in the glassware, but its molecules, if the precious metal was indeed in the details, are already there. Hydrazine will help perform the next chemical operation. Hydrazine can be in powdered or liquid form.

Working with acids is very dangerous

In powder form, it is white in color and does not have any odor. When dissolved, on the contrary, it becomes colorless and smells extremely unpleasant. If hydrazine is purchased in powder form, then no more than 300 grams are required to extract gold.

200 grams of hydrazine powder are usually dissolved in one liter of water. This is a fairly concentrated solution; it must be added to a container with aqua regia, where the dissolved gold is located.

Presented in the form of silver contacts (where soldered onto contact holders) and aircraft wire - coated with silver.

Extracting silver from radio components is not easy, since this precious metal is highly inert, that is, it has weak reactive chemical properties. Silver does not react to acids, alkalis and, like gold, does not dissolve in aqua regia. The low chemical activity of silver complicates its extraction from radio components. However, despite the difficulties, silver is still extracted from industrial scrap and melted into silver bars.

Is it profitable to extract silver from radio components? , can be presented in the form of various massive parts (large silver contacts) or silver-plated coatings. It makes sense to extract technical silver from radio components only when it is extracted from large parts or structures, since silver-plated parts contain a small amount of silver. Often, large massive radio components are technical silver - in the form of various technical alloys, and small-sized parts or silver-plated surfaces usually contain -.

How is silver extracted from massive parts of radio components? It is known that silver under normal conditions does not dissolve in acids (hydrochloric, sulfuric and aqua regia), but it dissolves well in oxygen-containing nitric acid. You can extract silver from massive parts of radio components (automatic machines, starters) using nitric acid. To speed up the chemical reaction, nitric acid is heated. To do this, place the container with nitric acid in warm water. In this case, you cannot pour it into the container, there is too much acid. In the process of dissolving silver in nitric acid, the acid itself will intensively heat itself up. If you pour more nitric acid into a container than the required amount, the acid will begin to come out.

If nitric acid does not completely dissolve the silver contacts, then there is no need to rush to add the next portion of nitric acid. We need to try again, warm up the acid. If, after trying to heat nitric acid, the desired effect is not observed, then the old acid is poured into a separate container and a new one is poured. Then they take the drained nitric acid, add zinc to it, and if it is not there, then you can use the structure to which silver contacts are attached. The structure to which the electrical contacts are attached is usually made of brass. Brass is a copper-based component alloy, where the main alloying element is zinc. Therefore, both zinc and brass can be added to nitric acid. Zinc is a fairly expensive non-ferrous metal, the use of which does not make much sense in order to obtain silver.

Nitric acid poured into another container begins to eat up copper, which is part of brass. Next to zinc or brass, pure silver will form. The resulting silver has a muddy appearance, with a white or gray color. We wait until the silver settles completely. Then we collect the silver, wash it with water, dry it, melt it in a furnace and smelt a silver ingot.

Earlier. In this article we will look at how to mine gold at home from radio components.

Everyone knows that various precious metals are found in almost all computer components. According to unverified data, several hundred tons of gold per year are used to make computers around the world.

Gold is found in small quantities in motherboards, processors, video cards, memory cards, etc. This metal has very good conductivity and is therefore used in electronic technology in “tons”.

In this article I will tell you how to get gold from old motherboards yourself using improvised means.

The main amount of gold is used in board connectors - they are coated with a thin layer of gold for better conductivity. First, all these connectors and jumpers must be separated from the board.

In general, bite off anything that looks yellow to you.

To do this, you will need wire cutters, pliers, a flat-head and Phillips screwdriver. Now you need to separate all the contacts from the connector body. It doesn’t matter how you do it - carefully or not, the main thing is that all metal parts are separated.

Now comes the more difficult phase of our gold recovery operation.

This technology involves the use of very harsh chemicals, so always use extreme caution. Don't relax for a second!

Pour concentrated (95%) sulfuric acid into a glass or plastic bath. One electrode - the anode - is made of copper, and the other - the cathode - is made of lead.

We make the copper electrode in such a shape that we can put our contacts from the connectors there, i.e. something like a cup.

We lower both electrodes into our bath and apply constant voltage to them (we connect the plus of the power source to the copper electrode, and minus to the lead electrode).

The source can be any DC power supply.

At this time, copper from the contacts and leads of radio components dissolves and is deposited on the lead contact, and gold, no longer associated with copper, is deposited at the bottom of our bath.

After this, the bath needs to settle a little, after which you need to drain off as much sulfuric acid as possible. Pour the acid into the water, not the other way around - otherwise splashes will fly in all directions and it will be oh, how bad.

If this does happen, immediately rinse your eyes, hands, clothing, and anything else that came into contact with the acid with plenty of running water. Then treat the surfaces that came into contact with the acid with a weak solution of baking soda.

When we have drained all the acid, we need to filter it. Do not filter the acid immediately without diluting it with water, as the paper filter will simply corrode. Undissolved pieces of metal and any debris will remain on the filter.

Now you can start dissolving the residue.

We collect all the sediment from the bottom of the electrolytic bath and from the filter and dissolve it all in a mixture of a 5% solution of sodium hypochlorite (chlorine bleach) and hydrochloric acid (35%) in a 1:2 ratio.

This reaction results in the release of a very dangerous gas - chlorine, so be very careful and only carry out this operation outdoors or under a hood!

When I was conducting this experiment, I had the imprudence to inhale a little of this gas - I still can’t get rid of the feeling that something was burned inside me. Don't repeat my mistakes.

Now you need to filter again. To get the formed metal that we are trying so hard to get, we need to precipitate it in solution.

To do this, we need powdered sodium metabisulfite (aka sodium pyrosulfite, Na 2 S 2 O 5) diluted with water - we get bisulfite. It is he who will help to precipitate the gold.

When the solution settles, we will get some gray powder at the bottom.

This is our gold. Now we need to carefully remove it and melt it using. The melting point of gold is 1064°C.

Gold is contained in the following radio components: transistors, microcircuits, relays, etc.

Transistors

In some transistors, gold can be seen as a yellow coating or rim on the outside. Or it can be inside. A group of transistors, such as KT201 and the like, contain gold; they are distinguished by golden legs. In the group of transistors KT606 or KT907 there is no golden color. KT925 and similar ones contain a golden body. It is advisable that the details be before 1986 of the year.

Microcircuits

Chips containing a yellow lead or yellow bottom also contain gold. These include the series 101, 134, 140, 514 etc.

The amount of gold in parts changes over time, with the methods of manufacturing equipment. For collecting precious metals, preference is given to equipment up to 1986 of the year. If it is difficult to find equipment dating back to the specified year, then you can find gold in computers. motherboards, processors. The older the computer, the more gold it contains. In modern computers, gold is used in smaller quantities than in older editions, such as Pentium, Pentium 2.

How to extract gold from household appliances?

II. Method for extracting gold at home

Workplace

1. You need to choose a workplace. When choosing, you need to take into account that the room must be ventilated. Because as a result of work, caustic, toxic substances will be released. To separate gold from foreign impurities, you will have to boil aqua regia, so there must be good ventilation.

1. The table should be spacious so that everything you need is at hand. You will have to melt it and use acids. Therefore, it is advisable to cover it with plywood.

1. You need a special cabinet in which chemical reagents will be stored. Substances must be kept locked up so that they are out of reach and will not cause harm to anyone.

Tools

1. Soldering iron or soldering station.
2. Pliers for removing parts.
3. File.
4. Scales.
5. Screwdrivers.
6. Hammer.
7. Glasses.
8. Basis for ingot processing

Stages of separating gold from other metals.

1. Parts containing gold are selected.
2. The resulting metal dissolves in acid. Dissolution occurs in several stages, in which there will be various acids: hydrochloric, nitric.
3. Next or repeated cleaning of the metal in aqua regia.
4. Removing gold that has settled to the bottom.

How to extract gold from a computer?

Dissolving a metal in hydrochloric acid

Once the metal is removed from the part, it must be cleaned of any varnish, alloy, or foreign matter or paint. The next step is to dissolve base metals. For this purpose, heated hydrochloric acid is used. To do this, acid is poured into a container and the metal is immersed in it. The higher the acid temperature, the faster the gold extraction process. Usually, for this purpose, the acid is heated in a water bath.

In addition to temperature, the speed of the process is affected by capacity. It is desirable that it be flat so that the reactants are in close contact. In order for gold to separate from other metals, it must be kept for about 1-1,5 weeks in hydrochloric acid. The separation of gold from base metals is possible due to the fact that noble metals do not dissolve in acid. As the metals dissolve, the color of the acid will change depending on which metal it is reacting with.

The amount of acid should be 3 times more than the metal for a complete reaction to occur. If metal 500 g, which means there must be acid 1500 d. If bubbles appear in the acid, this means that the acid is reacting with the metal. After the reaction has taken place and the metals have dissolved, you need to drain the top layer of acid, leaving the gold that will remain at the bottom.

The resulting metal is washed with distilled water and dried.

Dissolving a metal in nitric acid

The next step is to separate the resulting metal from gold using nitric acid. To do this, you need to take a tall jar, because when the acid reacts with the metal, boiling will begin, in which the liquid will rise high and fall again.

The liquid will heat up for about half an hour, then the substances will begin to actively decompose into nitrates. The acid must be drained off again, leaving a gold sediment at the bottom. It is separated using a magnet. The resulting gold is washed again with distilled water and dried.

Dissolution in aqua regia

The metal is allowed to sit for a day in aqua regia, then evaporated. You need to boil until there is approximately no liquid left. 30% . To do this, you need to choose a ventilated room, because the evaporation will have a pungent odor.

Getting gold at home

Collecting gold

Add to the still uncooled aqua regia 2 Art. spoons of iron sulfate, (the vitriol is diluted with water, approximately 300 gram). After this, gold will begin to fall out. It is enough to brew for about 2 hours, after which you can wash the resulting gold in distilled water and dry it. After all the manipulations, “shavings” of gold appears, which must be combined into an alloy.

The resulting chips must be handled carefully so that they do not fly apart. Use a magnet to remove foreign metals. Next, the shavings are wrapped in papyrus paper and moistened with flux. After which the gold must be thoroughly melted so that there are no unmelted shavings left. If the chips are small and there is a chance that they will not melt, then you will need to mix them with nitric acid and borax to remove foreign metals again.

If the metal is melted incorrectly, the resulting mixture will be unusable, because the gold will turn out friable and the appearance will deteriorate. Therefore, so that your efforts are not in vain, be careful when melting gold so that there are no foreign impurities in it. It is possible to extract gold from electrical equipment, but this requires careful handling and maintaining all safety measures.

The amount of gold obtained depends on what equipment the gold was mined from. It is desirable that the equipment be domestic, approximately up to 1986 year of production.

Existing methods and technologies make it possible to extract even the smallest particles of the yellow metal. Known methods for extracting gold from radio components are effective and time-tested. These are etching and electrolysis, which are successfully used in refineries.

Some chemistry lovers try to extract the yellow precious metal on their own at home using so-called “regia vodka”. This activity is not the safest, so it is best to sell radio scrap with a high gold content.

“Royal vodka” consists of a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid and poses a danger to human health. Therefore, all chemical extraction experiments should be carried out with extreme caution.

Etching and electrolysis

Pickling and electrolysis are the simplest and most affordable ways to earn money, allowing you to earn money not only for individuals, but also for large enterprises that have decommissioned devices and components.

Gold belongs to the inert group of metals, so it easily enters into chemical reactions with various substances. This feature allows you to dissolve gold particles that are in the radio scrap with the help of acids and then release them into pure metal. Hydrochloric or sulfuric acid is used in certain proportions.

If it is not possible to use etching, then electrolysis is used. Gold gradually accumulates on the anode and after the process is completed it can be removed and melted into ingots.

Using etching and electrolysis, you can extract gold from any radio components. There is especially a lot of it in Soviet-era radio scrap. At that time, domestic industry used precious metals in large quantities to ensure high conductivity and reliability of contacts.

List of radio components containing the most gold

A company with a good reputation, which has been purchasing and recycling old radio components for many years, places on its websites tables listing the components that contain the most precious metals. This:

• radio tubes;
• microcircuits;
• transistors;
• connectors;
• switches;
• radio tubes;
• contacts.

At refineries, yellow precious metal is also extracted from terminals, pins, circuit boards and gold-plated legs of radio components. If previously gold was mined in kilograms, today this figure has decreased somewhat. In modern components, precious metals have given way to materials that replace gold and platinum. Therefore, it is better to sell old radio components.

Before you go shopping, you should familiarize yourself with the table, which shows all groups of radio components and prices for specific products. This will help you navigate prices and know in advance by selling which radio components you can earn the most. Any radio scrap that contains gold is suitable for recycling.