But there a some quantities that are not neglijable when you count the hundreds of millions of computers, phones, tablets and other gadgets are made every year in the world. And, finally, all of these metals should be removed and recycle. For the moment only a small part of the entire quantity of electronics is processed in order to reuse the elements inside it, but the business will become an industry into the future because of the necessities and the limited reserves of this planet.
So, in order to remove the gold (the other elements are important, but for the moment the gold is the most interesting one) from your electronic you should do this:
- try to obtain as many scrap electronics components and as older as you can. In general older electronics work better because the technology is better now and the enhanced manufacturing processes uses less gold in the new electronics than the older ones. All of them have gold inside, but the older equiments have larger quantities.
- remember that gold can be found into the connector pins, processors and/or chips because it's a good electricity conductor, so you don't need the entire mother board of the electronics. Remove the all gold-plated components but keep the rest of the boards because of their other metals. You don't want to loose them, don't you? This is an article about removing gold, but you'll want to reclaim the silver, lead and copper also, later. You can also recycle the plastic.
- the next step will require chemicals: one to remove the gold plating and one to refine the gold. These chemical are toxic for humans, but necessary for gold removal... So you should prepare for it: wear a a respiratory mask, rubber apron, thick rubber gloves, and a face shield any time you are handling those chemicas. There is no money in the world that can help you if you are hurt during this process or worse, you die doing it.
- the process is called reverse electroplating and you need an electrolyte (the solution that act as a chemical bath for the gold, it's a great conductor of electricity). You can make it by pouring a mixture of 70% sodium cyanide, 15% sodium meta nitro benzene sulphonate and 15% sodium hydroxide into a glass chemistry baker, stir them with a glass wand.
- set up the power source. You don't need 110 volt or a 220 volt source (depending of where in the wold you are). Two 9 or a 12 volt batteries is enough for the job. Take 2 pieces of wire and strib about 4 or 5 centimeters of their insulation of the ends, on one end of each piece of wire connect a small alligator clip. Connect the other end of the wires to the batteries: one wire to the negative post of one of the batteries and the other wire to the positive post of the other battery.
- prepare the cathode (the wire connected to the negative post of the battery): attache the alligator clip onto a piece of stainless steel and drop it into the electrolyte solution .
- prepare the anode (the wire connected to the positive post of the battery): clip the alligator clip from the wire to the gold plated scrap from your electronics components and dropt the scrap into the electrolyte solution. Considering what small the electronics scraps usually are, you can do only one at the time (considering you have only one power source and one glass chemistry baker).
- Activate the circuit: the electrolyte solution will dissolve the gold and the positive charge will cause it to attract to the negatively charged piese of steel. You can do this as long the power source is active or you have enough gold to peel it off and to refine it.
- mix the gold with a refining solution - this action will eat away the copper, lead and other metals that may have melted with gold when it was manufacture. Drain the refining solution and allow the remaining chemical to evaporate off the gold, wash the result thoroughly with water.
