How to Remove Gold from Circuit Boards: 12 Steps (with Pictures) (2024)

FAQs

What is the easiest way to remove gold from circuit boards? ›

Pour nitric acid into the glass container over the circuit boards. Stir the mixture with the glass or metal rod until the contents become a uniform fluid. Once the gold has separated from the plates — it may take some time — strain the nitric acid from the mix using the filter. Take out the pieces that aren't melted.

In their paper, the researchers demonstrated their method's commercial viability. Including both source material procurement costs and the energy costs for the entire process, the total cost of recovering 1 g of gold from e-waste was 50 times lower than the value of the gold recovered.

Peroxyd of manganese does this, and the gold dissolved in such a solution is a sub-chloride. The most useful and important vehicle for dissolving gold is aqua regia, (royal water), composed of two parts of hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, and one part of nitric (aquafortis).

printed circuit boards (PCBs) is that a rich gold ore might have 0.5 – 1.0 oz of gold per ton of ore, but computer PCBs contain 3 – 8+ oz gold, 15 – 20+ oz silver, 500+ lbs copper per ton of boards, plus multiple other base and precious metals.

If your gold piece turns black or green when the vinegar is on it, or if it starts to smoke or fizzle at all when the vinegar touches it, it is most likely not real gold. If your gold piece does not change colors and does not fizzle or react to the vinegar in any way, it is probably real.

The most valuable parts of a circuit board are the components that make it up. This includes things like transistors, resistors, capacitors, and diodes. The metals used in the board itself – such as copper, gold, or silver – can also be quite valuable depending on their purity and amount.

It's true there's often silver, platinum, palladium and gold in our damaged or outmoded electronics, not to mention plastic, glass and other materials that have some scrap value. The primary reason is that precious metals conduct electricity much better than alloys.

The addition of high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide to air saturated solutions was found to increase the cyanidation rate of a pure gold plate (99.95%), but may impose a risk of oxidising the cyanide which occurs at an appreciable rate when the peroxide concentration is above 10 mM (Guzman et al., 1999).

Final answer: Aqua Regia is used to dissolve gold.

What is the only solution that can dissolve gold? ›

Aqua regia, Latin for 'royal water', is a highly corrosive mixture of acids, famously known for its ability to dissolve gold.

Pour a bit of gasoline over the pieces to put the pieces on fire. Turn the burning pieces over using steel tongs, and wait until the boards are burnt black. Put out the fire. Allow the pieces to cool down a little—just warm enough so you can touch them, but not too cooled down that the plastic hardens again.

While extracting gold from electronics is not without its challenges, it can be worth it for individuals looking to recover valuable metals and reduce e-waste. However, following safety precautions and using personal protective equipment when handling hazardous chemicals is essential.

Money in Cell Phones

Quick calculation: If you have 10 cellphones to recycle, they should contain about $14.00 worth of gold, $5.80 of palladium, and $2.00 of silver. If you have 100 cellphones, the value jumps to $140.00 in gold, $58.00 in palladium, and $20.00 in silver.

According to the team, the energy costs present a mere 50th of the value of the gold that can be recovered, making it an incredibly profitable process if scaled up.

Electronic waste contains a variety of valuable metals, including copper, cobalt, and even significant amounts of gold. Recovering this gold from disused smartphones and computers is an attractive proposition in view of the rising demand for the precious metal.

Removing Gold Using Fire

Use steel tongs to turn over the burning circuit boards. Get a metal bin or tray, and put the circuit boards into it. Break the boards into smaller pieces so they burn faster. Light the boards on fire.

Gold is coaxed from e-waste with a protein amyloid nanofibril (AF) aerogel derived from whey, a by-product of cheese making. The aerogel acts like a gold sponge, and the researchers were able to extract a nearly pure, 22-karat, gold nugget weighing almost half a gram from 20 discarded computer motherboards.