How Much Lye/Sugar Do I Need?

[Adam34falcon]

Hey guys,

New member here. Glad to be part of the forum! I recently refined some 90% silver coins using nitric acid and then precipitating the silver with copper for a science project at my school. I am also looking at the method of using lye and sugar to precipitate the silver. I am still researching this method but I couldn't find any information about the ratio/amount that I need when I put lye and sugar into the solution. Can anyone give me some information about how much I need? Thanks for any help, really appreciate it!

 

[butcher]

From our friend GSP we get:
41g AgCl
(One troy ounce of silver)
it takes
20g NaOH
133 ml H2O
13.3 ml Karo syrup

 

[galenrog]

I am a bit confused. Are you asking how much lye and sugar to put in a nitric solution? If so, please do not do that. We use sodium hydroxide and Karo syrup (among other methods) to convert silver chloride to silver. If I misunderstood your question, please blame my lengthy surgical recovery.

 

[Adam34falcon]

I am a bit confused. Are you asking how much lye and sugar to put in a nitric solution? If so, please do not do that. We use sodium hydroxide and Karo syrup (among other methods) to convert silver chloride to silver. If I misunderstood your question, please blame my lengthy surgical recovery.

Yeah, I was talking about sodium hydroxide, sorry haha. I did not know about using Karo syrup but now that I have read more about refining on a few different posts I understand a lot better now, but I still have a lot to learn. I think I have the answer now, and I will be sure to use sodium hydroxide and Karo syrup instead if I use this method inside of copper. Thanks for the reply, and have a safe and fast recovery!

 

[Adam34falcon]

From our friend GSP we get:
41g AgCl
(One troy ounce of silver)
it takes
20g NaOH
133 ml H2O
13.3 ml Karo syrup

Thanks so much for the help!

 

[butcher]

After dissolving silver using nitric acid, the silver is precipitated from a nitrate soulution by converting the silver nitrate salt into an silver chloride salt using a source of chlorides like NaCl, HCl...

Then the wet silver chloride can then be converted back into silver metal using the caustic and karo syrup (method...

 

[Thipdar]

From our friend GSP we get:
41g AgCl
(One troy ounce of silver)
it takes
20g NaOH
133 ml H2O
13.3 ml Karo syrup

Is that a typo? I thought a Troy ounce was 31+ grams...

-- Thipdar

 

[Yggdrasil]

If I'm not mistaken, it refers to the content of silver in the silverchloride.

41g AgCl
(One troy ounce of silver)

And since it comes from GSP I suspect it to be correct.
In other words, 31grams of Silver and 10grams of Chloride.
Thats the way I see it anyway :wink:

 

[nickvc]

If I'm not mistaken, it refers to the content of silver in the silverchloride.

41g AgCl
(One troy ounce of silver)

And since it comes from GSP I suspect it to be correct.
In other words, 31grams of Silver and 10grams of Chloride.
Thats the way I see it anyway :wink:

Correct 8)

 

[Thipdar]

If I'm not mistaken, it refers to the content of silver in the silverchloride.

41g AgCl
(One troy ounce of silver)

And since it comes from GSP I suspect it to be correct.
In other words, 31grams of Silver and 10grams of Chloride.
Thats the way I see it anyway :wink:

That does clear it up - thanks

-- Thipdar