Electrolytic recovery of silver

Electrolytic recovery of silver is a common method of recycling waste silver materials. This method usually uses the principle of electrolysis, dissolving silver ions in an acidic solution, and then reducing them to silver metal through a reduction reaction.

The process of electrolytic recovery of silver can be divided into the following steps:

Pretreatment: First of all, silver waste needs to be pretreated to remove impurities such as oxides and sulfides. This can be achieved through methods such as chemical treatment or mechanical treatment.

Electrolysis: Put the silver waste into the electrolytic cell, and add an appropriate amount of acidic solution as the electrolyte. Under the action of direct current, silver ions will undergo a reduction reaction in the electrolyte to form silver metal particles.

Precipitation: The silver sludge produced during the electrolysis process usually needs to be subjected to precipitation treatment to remove impurities. Commonly used precipitants include sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide.

Filtration: After the precipitate is filtered or centrifuged, relatively pure silver particles can be obtained.

Reduction: Put the obtained silver particles into a reduction furnace, add an appropriate amount of reducing agent, such as iron, zinc, etc., to carry out a reduction reaction to reduce it to metallic silver.

Cooling: After the reduction reaction is completed, the furnace temperature needs to be lowered below room temperature, and the obtained silver metal particles should be cooled below room temperature.

Processing: Mechanical processing of the obtained silver metal particles, such as crushing, polishing, etc., in order to increase its utilization value.

In conclusion, electrolytic recovery of silver is a common recycling method for waste silver materials. This method effectively dissolves silver ions in an acidic solution and reduces them to metallic silver through a reduction reaction.