# How do you extract nickel and/or copper?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-extract-nickel-and-or-copper/559124>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 1, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-extract-nickel-and-or-copper/559124 "2010-11-01T21:01:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hennessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hennessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hennessy)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-extract-nickel-and-or-copper/559124/1 "2010-11-01T21:01:37Z")

</div>

I’m sure you figured its for recycling purposes but it also sounds like a fun project if I’m eligible. For the nickel, I heard a lot of stuff contains some nickel in it, I’d try something small. The copper, I have a copper/aluminum radiator I would like try and separate the two. Could some break it all down for me? Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-extract-nickel-and-or-copper/559124/2 "2010-11-01T21:14:36Z")

</div>

Copper is normally refined by electrolysis I believe. I guess if you dissolved your radiator in nitric acid and then electrolyzed the solution with a copper cathode, that might work. Whether it would be cost effective (or whether you could recover aluminum or nickel similarly), I have no idea.