I am looking to buy a flask with a flask heater.
Is a 3 heads flask like this model sufficent for refining larger lot? size range from 5000ml to 12000ml.
This can be good for the aqua regia digestions but there are a few things to keep in mind. First is the small holes in the top. For solutions and reactions that dissolve well, they are fine but for reactions where there are insolubles that need to be removed from the vessel that is a problem.
Let's start by discussing volume, based on the acid used to digest gold and gold alloys, a 12 liter has an effective operating volume of 7 to 7.5 liters. This depth leaves enough room for the solution to rise without risk of shooting out the condenser. (Yes I have seen that happen with overfilled vessels!) So a 12 liter flask will digest 50 ounces of the powder you get from first inquarting and parting in nitric. The flask is light enough to lift and pour the contents into the funnel to filter it. since the yield is 99%+ fine gold to start, your yield should be close to 50 ounces per reaction. Another spherical reactor standard size is 22 liter which can refine 100 ounces per load. Also small enough to lift and pour by hand. Both are also available with 4" conical heads which allow you to put your hand into the vessel once it is rinsed free of the acid to collect any diamonds that were in the gold. both sizes are available with both hard heat mantles and soft heat mantles.
I know we are not talking about chemical stone removal but if your typical customer is a jeweler who sets stones, it is a valuable service to provide for your customers. But if you cannot get your hand in the vessel it will not work. This is all I'll say about stone removal now but if it were me, and the local market has the potential for that type of work, I would be having at least one vessel with a 4" conical head. You can always start another thread to discuss this further if you decide to try it once you are up and operating.
You also have to consider the nitric acid parting of the inquarted gold. This is the most cost effectively method done in a stainless steel pot. Usually 304 stainless. These are much more affordable and have a large capacity. This photo, which I have posted before is a simple setup used to dissolve Silver to make silver refining electrolyte.
For parting I would forego the heat band and place the pot on a large electric hot plate to get the heat from the bottom. My reason is 25% of the material you put in will not dissolve because it is gold, so heating from the bottom will likely penetrate the gold better during the process and result in higher purity. The funnel draws up into a fume scrubber and effectively exhausts the NOx. This setup was done without a hood because when the reaction stopped they let it cool and never handled hot acid. You will be decanting and rinsing and it will leak fumes. It should be done in a hood to keep the shop air much more liveable.
These pots come in many sizes typically 5 gallon but as high as 25 gallon. You need to consider 2 things. 1. how much you can easily lift. and 2. how much pure gold you want to refine in a single lot in a glass vessel. Matching the 2 volumes will make for efficient processing.
If you choose to start with a 12 liter vessel for aqua regia, a 5 gallon stainless pot should give you room to process 50 ounces of fine gold content inquarted 3:1 with silver. You should be able to inquart and part 2 lots a day and refine 2 lots a day in aqua regia. Maybe Mondays half that because you won't have a parted lot of powder to put up first thing in the morning. But I don't see a capacity of 450 fine ounces out of range per 5 day week for this system once you are comfortable with the process. I believe, without going back and looking, that is double of your weekly refining load which was 6 kg.
I think it would make an interesting informative thread to assist you in designing your refining operation. If you can provide the room dimensions where this will go and the locations of roof access for the required exhaust vents, we can optimize the available space and possibly come up with some unique layouts for processing and even future growth. If you want that input, please start another thread because this one is getting quite large.
