RELIABLE IMAGE TIP # 95

Silver Recovery Techniques

Excerpt from AIIM TR4-1989 Silver Recovery Techniques:

The recovery of silver from scrap film and spent photographic processing solutions is vital to
conserving this valuable natural resource as well for monetary reasons. Another reason to
recover silver is to meet environmental regulations. Silver is classified as a “priority
pollutant” and toxic metal by environmental agencies around the world.

Below are two of the most common recovery techniques used in micrographics along with
further explanation and discussion.

Metallic Replacement
 Metallic Replacement
Metallic Cartridges/ Canisters function by chemically replacing the silver in solution with iron.
Since its introduction, the metallic replacement method of reclaiming silver has gained wide-
spread acceptance due to its advantages over other methods: low initial cost, simple non-
electrical installation, high efficiency, minimum space requirements, and little maintenance.
This equipment efficiently removes valuable silver from used fixing baths, certain silver-
bearing stop baths, stabilizers, and even wash waters in some instances.
Although the apparatus is primarily designed to remove silver from the overflow streams of
automatically replenished processing systems, it is equally acceptable for use with batch-
replacement or hand-processing systems. Another benefit of Metallic Cartridges is that they
do not generate combustible or explosive gases such as hydrogen during the recovery
process.

Links to companies selling Metallic Replacement units:

Academy Silver Group-http://www.theacademygroup.net/photosilver/photosilver.php
CPAC Equipment-http://www.cpacequipment.com/silvreccart.asp

There are other suppliers available on line.

 Electrolytic Plating

When large amounts of film are being processed, an electrolytic silver-recovery system may be
more economical. With this method, silver is removed from fixing baths by passing controlled
direct current between a cathode and an anode hung in the solution. Silver is deposited on the
cathode in the form of nearly pure silver plate. The cathodes are removed periodically, and the
silver is stripped. This method is relatively clean, may allow reuse of the fixing bath, and yields
silver having a high degree of purity.

There are many types, models, and manufacturers available. Try a Google search.