Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Hedan" <robert.hedan@...>
To: <Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 4:21 AM
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Regenerating Ferric Chloride


> Ok,
>
> I finally got around to reading the thread about muriatic acid and
> wondered
> if I could do something with the spent FeCl I have been accumulating. I
> was
> planning on bringing it to the annual domestic waste collection done by
> the
> city, but I'd prefer to recycle it if at all possible.
>
> So I googled and found this link:
> http://www.qsl.net/iz7ath/web/02_brew/14_howto/02_clor/index.htm
>
> This guy regenerates ferric chloride, but that contradicts this link from
> the muriatic acid thread:
> http://www.smallsolar.org/workshop/etchant/index.htm
>
> - Copper Chloride has one important benefit that the other commonly used
> etchant chemicals (Ferric Chloride and Ammonium Persulphate) don't have:
> when it "wears out" it can be regenerated.
>
> So, before I nuke my back yard, can I regenerate ferric chloride? And if
> so, what would be a 'relatively' safe procedure?

If you add HCl and H2O2, it will form a mixture of ferric chloride and
cupric chloride. The proportion of cupric chloride will increase over time,
of course.

Leon