Can anyone tell me the advantages of running nitric vs cell for first step.

[ssharktu17]

If someone is refining sterling in bulk is it better to go for nitric dissolving first step and cementing with copper.
Or just go straight to silver cell with sterling?

 

[nickvc]

There is no simple reply to this question, you can run sterling in a cell but you need to monitor the silver to copper ratio or you will get copper co deposit with the silver , on the other hand by dissolving the silver and cementing will leave much less copper to worry about so you can run that material for longer in the cell.
I suppose it depends on your ability to monitor the ratios in your cell. I would also use bars rather than grain as it’s easier to remove the pieces left.
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[4metals]

It also depends on the availability and cost of nitric where you live. With sterling you add about 7.5% copper to the acid for every ounce refined. So the copper builds up pretty quickly. That means changing electrolyte and starting over.

With cemented Silver you have 99+% Silver feeding the cell and the cell lasts longer. But you use more nitric.

Again, it comes down to nitric availability and cost.

 

[Proffshuggarn]

If someone is refining sterling in bulk is it better to go for nitric dissolving first step and cementing with copper.
Or just go straight to silver cell with sterling?

Hi
Is your aim to make electrolyte fluid or material to feed the cell with?
I'm not an expert in the field, but what I've learned and which works well for me is to first melt the silver, drip into water via "board", to get silver "cornflakes", which you can use to feed the silver cell.
Or leach out with Hno3/distilled water in proportion according to weight calculation.
Whether the sugar/lye process or cementation on copper gives the purest % results, I'm a bit unsure.

I have obtained very fine silver with +99% purity using both methods. However, the sugar/lye method feels like double work when you already have such a "high" silver content.

But as I said, there are others here who know this better, wait and see what they say.
Good luck
/Dennis

 

[Proffshuggarn]

Haha
You see
You got pro-answers during the time I wrote and translated my post

 

[ssharktu17]

Ok I think I need to set up a cell and practice with it a bit to get a feel for it then decide later on if would be better for me. Thanks!

 

[4metals]

Ok I think I need to set up a cell and practice with it a bit to get a feel for it then decide later on if would be better for me.

Keep close track of your nitric use and see how much sterling you can process in a cell. Then, knowing how much nitric it takes to dissolve sterling it is an easy comparison.

In a cell, if you were using 999 silver for feedstock you would consume almost no nitric acid because for every molecule of silver deposited at the cathode a free nitrate molecule is generated to dissolve more silver. But since Copper eats almost 3.5 times more nitric to dissolve it consumes nitric in the cell and needs replacement. But if you were running Silver that pure your cell would run almost maintenance free for a long time. (except for harvesting and adding anodes)