Ubya
International Hazard
Posts: 1247
Registered: 23-11-2017
Location: Rome-Italy
Member Is Offline
Mood: I'm a maddo scientisto!!!
|
|
Do you know any hobby/private E-Waste recyclers?
Odd question i know.
i see from youtube that in the US, or at least not where i live, many people recycle E-Waste at home for a profit extracting the valuable metals.
I already processed some E-Waste as an experiment in the past, and i was left with a few silicon wafers that i kept because they look nice.
A few days ago i thought that silicon chips, once stripped of their gold/platinum layers, are usually thrown out, but they are still pretty pure
silicon!
Even if silicon is doped, it is still 99.9999% pure silicon, so my idea was to take some of this scrap silicon after the recycler got the metals, and
grind it to make silicon powder for chemistry use.
I hear you say "why bother? you can buy silicon powder or silicon chunks on ebay for cheap"
valid question, but it's an experiment, to make use of something that would go in landfills and without any other processing is already fine, it just
needs to be ground into a powder.
"why do you need silicon powder?"
Meh some for experiments, some for selling
"Ubya you would spend more for shipping"
eh you are right there, so maybe i'll need to find someone closer to me, but if you have someone close to you, you could give it a try 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
feel free to correct my grammar, or any mistakes i make
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
Tsjerk
International Hazard
Posts: 3032
Registered: 20-4-2005
Location: Netherlands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mood
|
|
Silicon and magnesium react to give interesting magnesium silicide!
|
|
|
Steam
Hazard to Others
Posts: 238
Registered: 25-3-2014
Location: Minnesota
Member Is Offline
Mood: Triple Point
|
|
Hello Ubya, So I used to work in the E-waste recycling field and let me tell you that there is alot of money to be made in the field... however the
trick is first getting your feed-stock for cheap (which sounds like you are working on that) and getting your processing costs down. Both of those
factors are aided by having a very large scale established operation; however, that is out of reach for most amateur/ mico/garage-scale processors.
Silicon by itself is definitly not the most useful thing to many amateur chemists- mainly because it is hard to react with things and when it does
react, it produces some very dangerous compounds. Probably the most useful Si compound is Silane gas with as Tsjerk pointed out is from the reaction
of Mg2Si with HCl. Silane is often used to make ultra pure silicon for chips and such. In addition, the dust can be very damaging to human tissue as
well if it is ground fine enough; however, if the silicon was used as a composite material that might be useful. Quite frankly, my guess the most
profitable use for the waste silicon would be in the "up-cycling" consumer art world. For example, sunglasses made from used vinyl records (https://hiconsumption.com/vinylize-eyeglasses-made-from-recy...).
It might be worth your time though to look into titanium and niobium capacitor recycling if you are interested in the non-precious metals ewaste
recycling filed. Many places dont bother with these components since they are a pain to sort and are not worth that much. However, both of those
elements are conflict metals which could spike in price at a moments notice because most of the worlds supply is in countries like the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, which, last time I checked, is not the most stable Nation on earth. 
DISCLAIMER: The information in this post is provided for general informational purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction.
No information contained in this post should be construed as legal advice from the individual author, nor is it intended to be a substitute for legal
counsel on any subject matter. No reader of this post should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in, or accessible
through, this post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer
licensed in the recipient’s state, country or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.
|
|
|
Ubya
International Hazard
Posts: 1247
Registered: 23-11-2017
Location: Rome-Italy
Member Is Offline
Mood: I'm a maddo scientisto!!!
|
|
Quote: Originally posted by Steam  | Hello Ubya, So I used to work in the E-waste recycling field and let me tell you that there is alot of money to be made in the field... however the
trick is first getting your feed-stock for cheap (which sounds like you are working on that) and getting your processing costs down. Both of those
factors are aided by having a very large scale established operation; however, that is out of reach for most amateur/ mico/garage-scale processors.
Silicon by itself is definitly not the most useful thing to many amateur chemists- mainly because it is hard to react with things and when it does
react, it produces some very dangerous compounds. Probably the most useful Si compound is Silane gas with as Tsjerk pointed out is from the reaction
of Mg2Si with HCl. Silane is often used to make ultra pure silicon for chips and such. In addition, the dust can be very damaging to human tissue as
well if it is ground fine enough; however, if the silicon was used as a composite material that might be useful. Quite frankly, my guess the most
profitable use for the waste silicon would be in the "up-cycling" consumer art world. For example, sunglasses made from used vinyl records (https://hiconsumption.com/vinylize-eyeglasses-made-from-recy...).
It might be worth your time though to look into titanium and niobium capacitor recycling if you are interested in the non-precious metals ewaste
recycling filed. Many places dont bother with these components since they are a pain to sort and are not worth that much. However, both of those
elements are conflict metals which could spike in price at a moments notice because most of the worlds supply is in countries like the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, which, last time I checked, is not the most stable Nation on earth. |
actually i'm really going just for the silicon chips.
Taking the E-scrap, removing the components, sort them, and then chemically work up each type to remove precious metals is not a job i'm looking for
(where i live you can't really do that in your garage, lots of bureaucracy), i'm really after the scraps of the recyclers, scraps that would be thrown
away without any economical value.
Silicon is not really the most valuable element in electronics, i know, but i'm not looking for a business plan, as a worthless scrap it would be free
or pretty close for me, the workup is also really easy, grinding it and nothing else.
Silane is useful but i can't really store it (if not as magnesium silicide) and it's quite dangerous, i was thinking of reacting the silicon with
chlorine and make silicon tetrachloride, then react this with etanol to make tetraethoxysilane, a precursor for Aerogel (i need to research more this
reaction).
[Edited on 21-6-2020 by Ubya]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
feel free to correct my grammar, or any mistakes i make
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xpblue/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
