The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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CONSULTATION ON SILVER EXTRACTION

Q. DEAR SIR,

I'M STUDENT IN A FINAL SEMESTER BIOCHEMISTRY. I HAVE 2000 L OF FIXER SOLUTION, I HAVE CONSTRUCTED EXTRACTION DEVICE TO GET PURE SILVER AS FOLLOWING,,, PLASTIC CONTAINER 100 L, ELECTRIC STIRRER, D.C SOURCE 65 V, 3.1 A , 2 GRAPHITE ELECTRODES 30 CM IN LONG , QC IN DIAMETER, RHEOSTAT 250 W. I NEED TO GET PURE AND FAST SILVER ON CATHODE GRAPHITE.

MY QUESTION IS THE GRAPHITE ELECTRODES I WILL USE IS THE SUITABLE ELECTRODES FOR EXTRACTION? WHAT IS THE SUITABLE A,V,AS D.C SOURCE TO GET PURE AND FAST EXTRACTION TO START RUNNING MY DEVICE. EVERY LITER CONTAIN 10 G OF SILVER.

THANKS FOR YOUR AID.

I'm working in P.E.A (PROTECTION EARTH ASSOCIATION), I'm trying to design silver recovery device depending on the following formulas;

Wsilver=[Q/ZF] M.W silver Q=I*t P=I*V

MY SPECIFICATIONS DEVICE IS 3.1 A 64.5 V D.C , P=200 W, PLASTIC CONTAINER 100 L FIXER CONTAIN 0 G/L SILVER OF FIXER , STIRRING.

MY QUESTIONS ARE 1) WHAT IS RELATION BETWEEN AREA OF CATHODE ANODE AND AMPERE TO DETERMINE THE SUITABLE AREA OF ELECTRODES?

2)DOES THE IDEA OF ROTATING ANODE IN THE CENTRAL OF CYLINDRICAL STEEL MESH CATHODE FAST THE RECOVERY?

3)AS SILVER CONCENTRATION DECREASE SHOULD AMPERE DECREASE?

4) HOW TO PREVENT H₂S GAS AS USING 3.1 A

5)AT FIXED TIME ELECTROLYTIC SHOULD STOP ,THEORETICALLY I CAN GET IT FROM FORMULA Q=I*t with pre knowing silver concentration I COULD CALCULATE AT WHAT TIME RECOVERY STOP ,BUT PRACTICALLY THERE ARE SOMETHING TO DO.

6)WHAT IS MATERIALS OF CATHODE AND ANODE AND OTHER ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS?

Wsilver=mass of silver deposit at cathode f=96485 col/mol z=oxidation # of silver=1

Q=quantity of charge COL t=time in second

Thanks for your assistance to protect the earth,

Habi Moha
- Benghazi, LIBYA

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29-page booklet from Kodak: "Recovering Silver from Photographic Materials"

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Q. Respected sir,

I request you to send information about how to prepare machine (what are the equipments needed). And also I am trying to build up a machine. Following are my inquiries...

1.we don't know the type of metal for cathode and anode rod.

2. how much potential of DC voltage we have to give.

3. the full idea of prepare machine (silver extraction from waste hypo/fixer, x ray films)

Please send the answer of these questions as much as possible.

Thanking you yours truly,

Gurdeep Singh
- Delhi, India

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Ed. note: Sumesh Suresh, Ninad Keer, and Vaibhavanand Chaudhari "cut & pasted" the same set of questions onto this page in 2010, 2011, and 2012 respectively -- so we have simply posted their names rather than the word for word repetition.

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Q. I would like to set up a factory of recovering silver from hospital X ray films in Iran (with two partners). We have heard about silver recovery from X ray films and would like to know more about it. I don't know the first things about it. There is a lot of x ray films waste in this part of the world. Can you help me please. Is there a handbook of step by step how to do it? can I buy ready made kits? I understand the technology is big in India? can anyone help? anyone interested in selling his expertise? How much is the quantity of silver contained in 1000 gm of X-ray film scrap? Can we extract silver profitably from X-ray film scrap? If possible how? What is the market rate of X-ray film scrap per kilogram?

Sir, I want you to make me clear whether hypo sol. from X-ray labs is dangerous to health if we come in touch with it while extracting silver from it? Please let me know.

Thanking you,

Masoud Houshi
- Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

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Q. Hello sir,

I have seen the sites of the silver recovery system in India. I want to know some details about it..

1. investment of machine..
2. return in the investment..
3. name of the manufacturer of the machine of silver recovery system in India & how to contact him ..

Pankaj Marothia
- Rourkela, Orissa, India

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Q. Please tell me how to extract silver from waste hypo water because I am getting lot of liters of hypo water. What I'm doing I just buying and selling the water I am for example getting in market per litter rs 175 I sold out for 190 I am getting 15 rs from a litter but my idea is why should I?

shaik dwood
graphics - Chennai, tamil nadu, India

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A. Hi, Shaik. Hi, folks.

We've received hundreds of letters on this subject from readers who are not making the profits that they expected to make. The letters are extremely repetitive, and reading them suggests that people have sometimes been promised far more than can actually be delivered. Silver recovery may be more work than they thought, and -- more importantly -- there is apparently far less silver (and money) in these solutions than they have been led to believe.

If anyone has answers, we'll be very happy to print them! But the same questions have already been printed hundreds of times here on this letter, and on letters 7382, 15559, and other threads. We've posted the same unanswered question 652 times, so it gets a bit silly to post it for the 653rd time :-) Sorry.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

A. All the details which you want to know are available. If you have already started extracting silver from any process .pls explain clearly . with your present equipment, you can extract silver fast and efficiently with no harm to your health.

Dharma Rao
- Bhimavaram,w.g.district, A.P India
2006

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Q. I have a company that deals with chemical like fixer film. So that is the reason why I want to know about how to extract and also to know how to build the machine here locally. I need to know what I am going to use for the building of the machine. I will be grateful if all this information can be sent to me. .hope hear from you soon.thanks,

Mr Ogunyemi Babafemi
venture - Nigeria
2006

Q. I would like to set up a factory of recovering silver from xray chemicals,hypo, bleach, studio chemicals and hospital X ray films in India. We have heard about silver recovery from X ray films and would like to know more about it. I don't know the first things about it. There is a lot of x ray films waste in this part of the world. Can you help me please. please share your ideas of step by step how to do it? I understand the technology is big in India but nobody is sharing. can anyone help? anyone interested in selling his expertise? Can we extract silver profitably from X-ray film scrap? If possible how?

What are the basic steps to making a silver recovery machine. I would like to use 24 v, 2 A, DC. graphite anodes having 30 cm long and stainless steel pipe 30 cm long with 4" dia. rotating using a slow speed motor. Kindly advise whether this machine will work for a 30 ltr of chemicals ( contain 12 gm of silver / ltr)

Shihabudeen
teacher - Tvm, Kerala, India
2007

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(2008)

Q. RESPECTED SIR,

AM JOSEPH ANIL I completed my graduation in biotechnology, SIR I WOULD LIKE TO WORK ON EXTRACTION OF SILVER AS I THINK IT IS A GOOD BUSINESS..SO PLEASE HELP IN PROVIDING INFORMATION ON THE FOLLOWING DETAILS...
-- PROCEDURE ON HOW TO EXTRACT THE SILVER FROM THE ABOVE I MENTIONED IN THE SUBJECT....
--AND THE TOTAL ESTIMATION COST..
--APPROXIMATE SILVER PRESENT IN 1 LT OF WASTAGE WATER
--AND HOW MUCH MONEY I HAVE TO SPEND TO BUY 1 LT OF WASTAGE WATER(APPROXIMATELY)
--AND EXTRACTION INFORMATION IF ANY....

SIR,AM VERY THANKFUL TO YOU..AND AM VERY PLEASING YOU TO PROVIDE FULL DETAILS REGARDING THE PROJECT AND PLEASE GUIDE ME TOWARDS SUCCESS...

THANKING YOU SIR,

YOUR FAITHFULLY
B.JOSEPH ANIL...

Boyapati Joseph anil kumar
silver extraction - Hyderabad, Andhrapradesh, India

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29-page booklet from Kodak: "Recovering Silver from Photographic Materials"

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May 28, 2011

A. HERE IS THE MANUAL PROCESS FOR FIXER
Just test the liquid with testing paper. If you find more than 4 grams per liter just add 1 kg of caustic soda flakes [caustic soda beads in bulk on Amazon [affil links] for 200 hundred liters of fixer and stir it well for 10 mins and then add 1 kg sodium sulfide for same amount of fixer and stir well for 20 to 30 mins and leave it for 2 to 3 hrs the salt will go down ....just remove the above water with pipe and filter salt with cloth. ready for melting ....if you find any thing less than 4 grams in a liter just use sodium sulfide and stir well the salt will go down ......for x-rays you can boil x-rays in distilled water with caustic soda for 24 hours the silver coating will be recovered then normal process of melting ....

raj pulluri
- Hyderabad,Andhrapradesh, India