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- Feb 25, 2007
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Depending on your work habits and handling after the silver is parted, you could expect a purity as high as 9999.
I ran my silver cell without the addition of copper in the electrolyte. What I learned from doing that is that the silver plates out very firmly and well attached at first, then as the level of copper (in the electrolyte) increases, a product of the refining process, the deposit becomes softer, and less firmly attached to the cathode.
As the process continues, the deposit further changes in nature, eventually growing long, stringy and spongy threads, which start to include traces of copper. From this, you can clearly conclude that if you keep the copper level quite low by frequently changing the electrolyte, you can produce a high level of purity.
The anode must be contained in a bag (or filter, assuming the anode isn't suspended vertically) that captures particles that are regularly shed as it is consumed by the process. These particles would be traces of other values (gold, platinum, palladium, etc.) along with a large amount of silver particles. Copper, as already stated, goes into solution.
This can be accomplished at home, but it would not be a good idea for a single batch. A cell is required, along with a power supply. You could easily spend far more than the value of the silver, which would not make sense.
If, on the other hand, you want to learn to refine silver, then you're on the right track.
Harold
I ran my silver cell without the addition of copper in the electrolyte. What I learned from doing that is that the silver plates out very firmly and well attached at first, then as the level of copper (in the electrolyte) increases, a product of the refining process, the deposit becomes softer, and less firmly attached to the cathode.
As the process continues, the deposit further changes in nature, eventually growing long, stringy and spongy threads, which start to include traces of copper. From this, you can clearly conclude that if you keep the copper level quite low by frequently changing the electrolyte, you can produce a high level of purity.
The anode must be contained in a bag (or filter, assuming the anode isn't suspended vertically) that captures particles that are regularly shed as it is consumed by the process. These particles would be traces of other values (gold, platinum, palladium, etc.) along with a large amount of silver particles. Copper, as already stated, goes into solution.
This can be accomplished at home, but it would not be a good idea for a single batch. A cell is required, along with a power supply. You could easily spend far more than the value of the silver, which would not make sense.
If, on the other hand, you want to learn to refine silver, then you're on the right track.
Harold
