# Highest purity - Silver Nitrate or Silver Chloride



## MR.ED (Aug 19, 2010)

Ok heres the question .
If i were to refine Sterling silver All .925, 2 different ways listed below which process would yield the highest purity

Method 1... 70% nitric with 50% distilled water heated up...Put sterling into silution to disolve (Silver Nitrate) and relclaim silver using 100% copper cement method??

OR

Method 2....70% nitric with 50% ditilled water heated up...Put sterling into solution to disolve sterling...Then create (Silver chloride) and drop silver using lye and sugar and clean as usuall??

Need to know thanks guys...


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## Barren Realms 007 (Aug 19, 2010)

The 2nd method would give you cleaner silver if you wash properly.


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## 4metals (Aug 19, 2010)

Unless you're talking quantity, then you would want to do it electrolytically to cut down on the waste generated.


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## HAuCl4 (Aug 19, 2010)

I have not done it yet, but if you use Hydrogen Peroxide instead of sugar, after the lye, you get a very clean product and the waste is NaCl, which maybe you can use again or dispose of more cleanly. And you can get high with the oxygen bubbles!. 8) :idea:

2 AgCl + 2 NaOH -> 2 NaCl + 2 AgOH

2 AgOH → Ag2O ppt + H2O Filter

Ag2O + H2O2 -> 2 Ag ppt + H2O + O2 Filter and breathe deeply!. :lol:


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## MR.ED (Aug 19, 2010)

SO I have never done the hydrogen pyroxide methods..
3% or 30%??
And how much should i add until the colr change


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## HAuCl4 (Aug 19, 2010)

Wash, filter and dry and weight your Ag2O and for every (107.88x2+16) grs of Ag2O, you will need (16x2+2x1)/0.3 grams of H2O2 of 30% strength.

Put in a little extra to make sure all the silver converts fast and stir, and if there is any leftover you can use it on the next batch!. Let us know how it goes!. :lol:


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## Irons (Aug 21, 2010)

HAuCl4 said:


> Wash, filter and dry and weight your Ag2O and for every (107.88x2+16) grs of Ag2O, you will need (16x2+2x1)/0.3 grams of H2O2 of 30% strength.
> 
> Put in a little extra to make sure all the silver converts fast and stir, and if there is any leftover you can use it on the next batch!. Let us know how it goes!. :lol:



You can always use the O2 to react with NO to produce NO2, thus HNO3 with hydration when doing a digestion.


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## HAuCl4 (Aug 22, 2010)

Thanks Irons!.

I wonder if Mr.ED will post photos of the silver sponge precipitate. It should be very, very clean. :shock:


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## talalstuvs (Oct 6, 2010)

HAuCl4 said:


> Thanks Irons!.
> 
> I wonder if Mr.ED will post photos of the silver sponge precipitate. It should be very, very clean. :shock:


could anyone explain the 2nd mehtod in detail ? taking 70% nitric and 50% water don't understand it and also about sugar ?


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## butcher (Oct 7, 2010)

talalstuvs,
Much more detail than my post here, 
They are dissolving silver in nitric acid (diluted with water to about 35% nitric),
Then they will use table salt NaCl, or they will use HCl hydrochloric acid, this will form silver chloride a white insoluble powder to precipitate from the acidic solution (now a form of aqua regia), this silver chloride is kept wet as drying it just gives more trouble, and it will need conversion back to silver metal before you can melt the powder, this is done with sodium hydroxide NaOH (caustic or Lye) and sugar, to convert silver chloride to metallic silver, other methods of conversion use sulfuric acid and Iron, or another uses aluminum and HCl (these last two the metals are higher in series than silver and dissolve in the acid and replace the silver metal from the chloride salt).

In my opinion silver chloride is harder to deal with, using nitric to dissolve silver and using copper to replace it from the nitric, gives silver metal that can be directly melted, and my byproduct copper nitrate can be used to recover back some of my nitric acid used, and for purity of silver a electrolytic cell would be needed for high purity silver any way no matter which of the above methods are used.

Silver chloride if you tried to melt without conversion would put most of your silver into smoke.

Can I suggest you get a copy of GSP BOOK, it is really worth the price and tons of info in their, he also gave a copy of much of the posts he has made on the forum another nice tool, he is the Silver Pro and gives great information in his book not only for silver but refining and recovery of valuable metals in general.
These processes for silver refining are covered in detail on the forum now that you know what you are looking for.


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