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Chemical Dry Silver chloride-- Now What??

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Platdigger:

Yes,Sir...sodium sulphide will precipitate gold too,but...How did you get the gold into the thiosulfate solution?.....mmmmm.... Are you working with the gold thiosulfate process without saying a word to us?...Come on,Platdigger...share your experience with the nice guys of this wonderful Forum.

Kindest Regards.

Manuel
 
goldsilverpro said:
NH4OH
Karo. Fast and easy. This is how I would do it. Grind it up to face powder. A blender would probably work well. I would then weigh some out and add, for each troy ounce (31.1 grams) of AgCl, 100 ml of water, 16.5 grams of sodium hydroxide, and 11 ml of light Karo syrup. Add the powdered AgCl and stir for a long time until you have a uniform gray cement-like powder. This is best done with a motorized stirrer, preferably one that will chop up the material. You could use some form of 5 gallon paint stirrer chucked in a drill. A big blender might work great for the conversion, also. Blenders also provide heat, which would speed things up. In any case, the solution will turn a dark red/brown color.

Start small.

Hi I couldn't understand!
Does this method work for dry AgCl powder ?
 
saadat68 said:
Hi I couldn't understand!
Does this method work for dry AgCl powder ?

Well, he did reply in the thread entitled "dry silver chloride" so, it would be a safe bet to assume so.

Could also try any other methods for silver chloride, may just be a pain since drying out changes the structure of the AgCl and it clumps together so it iss hard to reach every molecule for conversion.

One method I found very interesting, that I am going to be trying with my accidentally dried AgCl is either melting it and pouring anodes, or getting it damp again and compressing it.
Then hanging them in a dilute solution of zinc chloride connected to bars of iron that will also be hanging in the solution.
Allegedly, this will convert all of the AgCl to metallic silver (with the silver keeping the same shape) and the iron will be sacrificial.

I read that in an old book, havent really seen it anywhere else, so there has to be a reason why it has fallen out of favor. Im guessing because melting AgCl is dangerous and foolish. And letting your AgCl dry out is troublesome.
 
Thanks Topher
I had a mistake in my first experience and produce some AgCl. I didn't know they are AgCl and let them dry. Don't worth to melt with flux because some of them are wet. I want to mix dried powder with wet powder and add caustic and then refine with nitric acid again

In this post I found I can use NaOH for dried AgCl
http://goldrefiningforum.com/~goldrefi/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=7305#p66322
 
Now that it has dried, I'd be inclined to suggest it be furnace reduced, using soda ash and borax. You should expect the process to be hard on the furnace and crucible.

Do not fill a crucible to the top, for it will froth considerably before becoming tranquil. Start with no more than roughly ¼ the crucible capacity in volume. That would include the flux.

If you can find it, use anhydrous borax, or borax glass (identical aside from borax glass having been once melted). Neither of them froth up.

Allowing it to dry was a mistake. Silver chloride is not soluble in acids.

You may experience success by dissolving the silver chloride in ammonium hydroxide, then recovering the silver as silver chloride by introducing HCl. Be advised that the ammonium hydroxide solution, if allowed to dry, is very unstable and can explode. Given a choice, I'd opt for the furnace recovery.

Harold
Hello, I'm new to the site and appreciate the expertise here. I also had a small amount of silver chloride dry out. Can it be dehydrated?
 
I assume you meant re-hydrated. I would do
As GSP suggested and go with the caustic and karo. Melting, no matter how careful always results in a choking fume. Caustic and karo will be easier on the lungs.
Can one use the Lye sugar method on dry Silver chloride?
 
Can one use the Lye sugar method on dry Silver chloride?
Yes but it takes a lot of mixing. GSP mentioned a blender to wet tbe chlorides and mix in the caustic and karo.

Dry Silver Chloride doesn’t like to get wet, it takes a lot of mixing. Just stirring doesn’t cut it and many have tried hence dry Silver Chloride gets the reputation of not converting well.

Chris mentioned using a kitchen mixer, that will surely do the job but forget ever using it for food again.
 
Last edited:
Hello Harold good morning
I have about 600g silver chloride mixed with base metal powder. Would it be possible to dissolve the silver chloride with ammonium hydrocid and drop it with HCL? Thanks.
Harold has not been here since March 2023 so I doubt he will reply.
Is it dry or wet?
 
Thank you, great friend, always there to help, it's wet, sod, a nitric solution in a pot.
How was it made?
What is the base metals?
Do you need to keep the base metals untouched?
If not just dissolve the base metals in HCl or Nitric (Best).
And then reduce the AgCl with your preferred method.
NaOH/Syrup, Iron/Sulfuric or any other method.
 
The silver chloride is in a pot as residue, it is wet with nitric residue that has not yet been washed and is contaminated with residues of tin-based metals, copper in nitrate and an insoluble part of tin. I have ammonium hydroxide and I know that it cannot be allowed to dry or heated too much. Ammonium hydroxide would dissolve the silver chloride, I would filter it and then I would knock it down with hcl. Could this leave behind some base metals? Thank you great friend 👦
 
Como foi feito?
O que são metais básicos?
Você precisa manter os metais básicos intocados?
Caso contrário, basta dissolver os metais básicos em HCl ou Nítrico (melhor).
E então reduza o AgCl com seu método preferido.
NaOH/Xarope, Ferro/Sulfúrico ou qualquer outro método.
 

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How was it made?
What is the base metals?
Do you need to keep the base metals untouched?
If not just dissolve the base metals in HCl or Nitric (Best).
And then reduce the AgCl with your preferred method.
NaOH/Syrup, Iron/Sulfuric or any other method.
Thanks for your help
I have nitric and also hydrochloric, but the residue is this one. You can see that it is very dark, it even looks like it has already reduced, but it is not. It has copper, tin, and silver chloride together. I prefer to do the reduction with sodium hydroxide and glucose syrup. Thanks.
 

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