# Silver plate with zinc coating



## Slayer-PGM (Sep 3, 2014)

Hey guys hello again,

Today I got the offer to buy aeroplane battery with silver plater coated with zinc. Any idea how to go about it or how to get rid of zinc first? I know all the safety measures, I am currently doing aqua reiga process to get gold too. Thank you
I will have pictures and all the details regarding the battery as soon as I get my hand on the sample. The wordings are it contain "silver zinc oxide". Its a battery of this jet. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-23
The weight is around 16 KG per battery and silver content is around 4kg per battery. Each battery has 15 cells and each contain around 40 plates. so total of 600 plates. 
Thank you.


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## maynman1751 (Sep 3, 2014)

*From what I've read*, the zinc and the silver (anode, cathode) are separate and not combined. The silver is inert and is not consumed in the batteries process.

http://www.vectorsite.net/tpchem_12.html


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## FrugalRefiner (Sep 3, 2014)

They are probably what are known as silver oxide-zinc batteries. 

According to Butts & Coxe, when manufactured, the active components are silver oxide and metallic zinc. As they discharge, they go through a two step process with the silver oxide (AgO) first being converted to Ag2O, then to metallic Ag. I wouldn't be surprised if all three are in varying proportions in end of life batteries.

Be careful with the electrolyte. It will likely be a strong solution of potassium hydroxide.

Dave


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## goldsilverpro (Sep 3, 2014)

Both zinc oxide and zinc will be present. I would try leaching in dilute sulfuric to dissolve them.


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## Slayer-PGM (Sep 4, 2014)

Thank you guys for the tips and knowledge. So basically leaching in dilute sulfuric to dissolve them is the way to go about it? Whats the next step? Precipitation with Sodium chloride, NaOH (lye) or soldium sulphide ? 
Thank you. Pictures and more details coming in 2 days.


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## Lino1406 (Sep 4, 2014)

The silver + silver oxide can be separated manually and sent to melting. Zinc
will evaporate. However if you prefer washing it out NaOH will do the job, too.
"30 and more recovery procedures"


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