Metal extraction from Ore

[Crazy4It2]

The question is probably quite simple for those who know chemistry on a more personal level, I do not.

 

I have this process...

 

Preliminary treatment of the ore or base metal byproduct with aqua regia (a mixture of hydrochloric acid, HCl, and nitric acid, HNO3) gives a solution containing complexes of gold and palladium as well as H2PtCl6. The gold is removed from this solution as a precipitate by treatment with iron chloride (FeCl2). The platinum is precipitated out as impure (NH4)2PtCl6 on treatment with NH4Cl, leaving H2PdCl4 in solution. The (NH4)2PtCl6 is burned to leave an impure platinum sponge. This can be purified by redissolving in aqua regia, removal of rhodium and iridium impurities by treatment of the solution with sdoium bromate, and precipitation of pure (NH4)2PtCl6 by treatment with ammonium hydroxide, NH4OH. This yields platinum metal by burning.

 

what I would like to know is:

How can I make iron chloride (FeCl2)?

How can I make ammonium hydroxide (NH3OH)

...or should I just buy them...

 

I would also appreciate any suggested simpler methods of extracting the gold and platinum...if possible.

[RyanJ]

How can I make iron chloride (FeCl2)?

 

I think its direct reaction of Hydrochloric acid on Iron:

 

[ce]Fe + 2 HCl -> FeCl2 + H2[/ce]

 

 

How can I make ammonium hydroxide (NH3OH)

 

Can't help you with that one I am afraid

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Darkblade48]

Ammonium hydroxide is simply ammonia gas dissolved in water.

[Crazy4It2]

So heating Ammonia and bubbling the gas through water will make Ammonia Hydroxide?

 

That sounds easy, but how do you know when saturated solution is achieved...ammonia smell or bubbles reach the surface?

 

If that process is correct, is it a matter of pressure that forces the Ammonia gas into solution?

 

I wrote all that and then realized something...is household ammonia just ammonia and water? If not, what is the difference?

[Darkblade48]

Ammonia is saturated at 28% IIRC. It is very soluble in water, so you shouldn't have any problem dissolving the gas into water.

 

Household ammonia is ammonium hydroxide, IIRC, a 5% solution.

[jdurg]

One thing that I just need to mention here. In reality, there is no such thing as 'Ammonium Hydroxide'. NH4OH is one of those incorrect things which have been misused so much that it's become commonly accepted. The species NH4OH simply does not exist. When ammonia gas dissolves in water, OH- and NH4+ ions do exist but as separate entities. You will never see a pure compound known as 'NH4OH'.

 

Household ammonia is indeed a very dilute solution of ammonia gas in water. However, there are also numerous other things in there which may cause problems if you are assuming that it's "pure ammonia". When you heat an ammonia solution, the NH3 readily escapes the solution and will re-dissolve into some distilled water and form a much more concentrated solution. That's the process being described in this thread.

[Crazy4It2]

Going by what I have learned in other places, I know that some of the content of the ore is likely to be iron. So it is recommended that I "wash" the crushed ore in hydrochloric acid first. Having done this I noticed that I did wind up with a dramatic change in the color of the hydrochloric (actually it was Muriatic) acid to that bright yellow described on another site...which was referred to as iron chloride. I have found sellers of iron chloride, however they characterize the substance as a powder. So now I am wondering exactly how I create a powder, and considering the process I delineated previously in this post...I am rather sure a powder is what is needed.

 

Next in the line of curiosities is the Ammonia Hydroxide. Since I believe that household Ammonia, when heated will release the Ammonia gas at a much lower temperature than the water, couldn't I condense that Ammonia gas and mix it into distilled water to create an appropriately saturated solution of, or...Ammonia Hydroxide?

[jdurg]

Going by what I have learned in other places' date=' I know that some of the content of the ore is likely to be iron. So it is recommended that I "wash" the crushed ore in hydrochloric acid first. Having done this I noticed that I did wind up with a dramatic change in the color of the hydrochloric (actually it was Muriatic) acid to that bright yellow described on another site...which was referred to as iron chloride. I have found sellers of iron chloride, however they characterize the substance as a powder. So now I am wondering exactly how I create a powder, and considering the process I delineated previously in this post...I am rather sure a powder is what is needed.

 

Next in the line of curiosities is the Ammonia Hydroxide. Since I believe that household Ammonia, when heated will release the Ammonia gas at a much lower temperature than the water, couldn't I condense that Ammonia gas and mix it into distilled water to create an appropriately saturated solution of, or...Ammonia Hydroxide?[/quote']

 

Muriatic Acid is exactly the same as Hydrochloric Acid. It's just an old fashioned name that is widely used still in industry.

 

To obtain your powder from your colored solution, you would have to crystalize the powder out of solution. There are various ways of crystallizing a solute out of solution and I think a great deal of them are contained here in the forums. (A quick search should find them for you).

 

For the ammonia gas, your proposal is just fine. When you heat the ammonia solution, you will want to direct the ammonia, through tubing, into another container which contains a MUCH smaller amount of water. NH3 is INSANELY soluble in water, so if you just try and collect the gas and then add water, it will make a mess as it sucks the water out of whatever container you have it in. If you just take one flask, cap it off and direct the gas into another small flask of distilled water, you should be able to do a moderate concentration.

[YT2095]

if I may Add to Jdurgs post, what he said is perfectly correct! this stuff goes crazy for water!

 

your out pipe with Ammonia gas should be conected to an upside down Funnel, the opening of this funnel should be plced just under the surface of the water.

that way when the gas creates the vacuum and sucks the water up, beyond a certain level air can get in to release the pressure, thus you have No worry about it backing up the tube into a hot vessel and risk it breaking/shattering.

it also gives you a maximal surface are to work with too

[honey_chemistry]

Can someone enlighten me on the differences between the economical and environmental sustainability of extracting metal from ore and recycling?

 

thanks