refiner123
Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2020
- Messages
- 16
I have collected ~150kg of silver plated brass items from RF components.
Local scrapyards would pay just regular brass scrap price for these items so I began to think whether
there would be any way to recover the silver with some home chemistry.
I have read this forum and other sources regarding possible silver recovery methods.
I understand that many of these methods are far from being profitable, especially if you would
have to pay something for the silver plated items.
I feel slightly afraid of building sulphuric silver deplating cell due to highly reactive condensed sulphuric acid.
So far electrolysis in sodium sulfite (Na2so3) electrolyte seems most promising option.
Before I start to do anything, I would like some additional hints on the process.
1) Should I expect some toxic fumes from this cell?
2) Will some of the silver stay in the electrolyte when process is finished?
If yes, how to get it out from the solution?
3) Does sodium sulfite electrolyte get polluted by base metals from brass?
If the base metals pollute the electrolyte, it probably needs to be changed if I want to process
the whole pile. If electrolyte needs to be changed too often, it reduces the possibility to reach
breakeven with this process.
4) How to safely dispose this electrolyte after processing is complete?
If there are loads of copper, tin, zinc in the solution, I probably should think a
way to make it safe before I start anything.
5) About cell container material.
Based on some google searches, polypropene plastic should be pretty resistant to
sodium sulfite (Na2So3) / aqua solution.
Will the properties of electrolyte change to be incompatible with PP plastic cell container?
Or should I try to find large enough glass bowl for this purpose?
6) Tarnished silver?
Some of the items are pretty tarnished.
Should I first drop them to aluminium + baking soda bath to make AgS back to Ag metal or will
similar reaction happen anyway within this cell? I don't want to lose some of the thin silver layer
because of the tarnish if it can be metallised easily.
7) What is the expected purity of silver got with this method?
If I get large enough amount of silver out from the process, I might want to learn to refine
it to 999 silver with nitric silver electrolysis cell. I am just wondering whether the silver from this cell
would be pure enough to be melted as anode for nitric silver cell or should some other refining done first.
Local scrapyards would pay just regular brass scrap price for these items so I began to think whether
there would be any way to recover the silver with some home chemistry.
I have read this forum and other sources regarding possible silver recovery methods.
I understand that many of these methods are far from being profitable, especially if you would
have to pay something for the silver plated items.
I feel slightly afraid of building sulphuric silver deplating cell due to highly reactive condensed sulphuric acid.
So far electrolysis in sodium sulfite (Na2so3) electrolyte seems most promising option.
Before I start to do anything, I would like some additional hints on the process.
1) Should I expect some toxic fumes from this cell?
2) Will some of the silver stay in the electrolyte when process is finished?
If yes, how to get it out from the solution?
3) Does sodium sulfite electrolyte get polluted by base metals from brass?
If the base metals pollute the electrolyte, it probably needs to be changed if I want to process
the whole pile. If electrolyte needs to be changed too often, it reduces the possibility to reach
breakeven with this process.
4) How to safely dispose this electrolyte after processing is complete?
If there are loads of copper, tin, zinc in the solution, I probably should think a
way to make it safe before I start anything.
5) About cell container material.
Based on some google searches, polypropene plastic should be pretty resistant to
sodium sulfite (Na2So3) / aqua solution.
Will the properties of electrolyte change to be incompatible with PP plastic cell container?
Or should I try to find large enough glass bowl for this purpose?
6) Tarnished silver?
Some of the items are pretty tarnished.
Should I first drop them to aluminium + baking soda bath to make AgS back to Ag metal or will
similar reaction happen anyway within this cell? I don't want to lose some of the thin silver layer
because of the tarnish if it can be metallised easily.
7) What is the expected purity of silver got with this method?
If I get large enough amount of silver out from the process, I might want to learn to refine
it to 999 silver with nitric silver electrolysis cell. I am just wondering whether the silver from this cell
would be pure enough to be melted as anode for nitric silver cell or should some other refining done first.