Silver Refining With Household Chemicals NO NITRIC

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[@miriel2011]

The white precipitate is Ag2SO4, which is poorly soluble in water, but very soluble in concentrated H2SO4. As soon as you diluted the acid, the precipitate formed. That precipitate contains most of your silver. You can either try to dissolve it into a huge amount of water, or you can put about 500 ml of distilled water and NaCl and stirr. Because the Kps (solubility product constant, Ksp (AgCl) = 1.7 x10-10) of AgCl is much smaller than that of Ag2SO4 (1.2⋅10−5), an exchange will happen as the equilibrium is displaced to form 99.99% AgCl in the precipitate. You should be able to recover your silver after that...

[@KallePihlajasaari]

This looks like a good way of handling it. Just add the salt without decanting and let the alchemy do the work.

[@lukebaehr3851]

What would the happen if there was copper in that solution? How would you handle that?

[@rallyefilmer]

@@lukebaehr3851 There was copper in solution

[@rallyefilmer]

What about mixing the AgSO4 directly with NaOH and do the procedure like it was AgCl ?

[@sreetips]

That might work

[@HeadCannonPrime]

My favorite part is when he shows his lunch. You should have said, "I add in the 50 ml of dilute acetic acid to the 100 ml of olive oil, give it a good stir, and add it to my lunch". (acetic acid is vinegar) ps. I get the feeling he is subtly flexing on us by showing off his watch.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

I had to do a Google Lens search. Omega Constellation in yellow gold? Pfft. I'm not going to wear anything on my wrist that has a higher street price than my hand! Totally feel you about the lunch.

[@xmachine7003]

Flexing...😂😂😂😂

[@xmachine7003]

@@AppliedCryogenics Work in the cryogenic industry?

[@BullProspecting]

I been watching you for many years!🙂 You Sir are the Bruce Lee of precious metal recovery💪🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏆 Thank you so much for all you do!🙏

[@DutchPhlogiston]

Interesting method, I had not thought of this approach before, thanks for sharing. . As a chemist, regarding the precipitate: I can think of two possibilities: (1) silver sulphate is actually only moderately soluble in water. (0.83 g/100 mL at 25 deg C, and only 1.33 g/100 mL at 10 deg C), and much more so in concentrated sulphuric acid. So: one possibility is that the white precipitate is silver sulphate that crashed out of solution when you diluted the sulphuric acid. In that case, your yield can be much improved by using (a lot) more water, so that all the silver sulphate stays in solution. I think this is what was meant in your textbook by 'a considerable amount' of water. Note also that without stirring, the dense sulphuric acid solution will tend to settle in a layer on the bottom, and stirring or swirling after adding all the sulphuric acid may cause the solutions to mix and heat up suddenly. I would advice stirring while pouring the sulphuric acid into the water. (2) Another possibility I can think of is that the precipitate is lead sulphate. It is soluble in concentrated sulphuric acid, but very insoluble in water or dilute sulphuric acid so it would crash out when you dilute the concentrated acid. However, I don't think lead is a common component of silver alloys, and the candleholder doesn't seem to contain many (if any) soldered joints, so the amount of precipitate you observed seems to be too much for it to be lead sulphate. So, my money is on hypothesis nr 1. Would be interesting if you could figure out what the precipitate is and let us know.

[@Jpw1776]

Is it Possible to do this same process with old PCB's?

[@sreetips]

Silver sulfate

[@JustJeff420]

Learning more and more every day! Thank you! You know that silver bar being stamped "reetips" is a mint error. It will be rare and sought after one day. Just subscribed to tomoko's

[@cramsmith9677]

That was very cool! I don't know why it smoked so much when I just tried it... but it was an amazing amount of smoke. Totally overwhelmed my ventilation. Just a word of warning to everyone else! I don't know if my silver was that dirty, or the drain cleaner was that old... but it turned black as night and smoked for 2 hours. Then it went white as snow when I added it to the distilled water after cooling down. But 2 hours of nasty bad, very dangerous smoke... be warned! Thanks again Sreetips!

[@johnlintorn6768]

Did it work for you in the end?

[@MDVA44]

I’m glad you have made this video for us that don’t have a lot of access to nitric acid and all the equipment. Great video Streetips

[@snipersquad100]

But most of us who don't have access to nitric acid don't have access to sulphuric acid either.

[@sreetips]

John, the misdeeds of a few ruin it for the many. I bought the concentrated sulfuric acid drain opener over the counter at Ace Hardware. Same with the lye. Sugar and sea salt at the grocery store.

[@snipersquad100]

@@sreetips But I'm in the UK, you cant bye anything stronger then piss without a licence.

[@peterwilliams5631]

@@snipersquad100 Hi John, you can buy 96% Drain cleaner in the UK

[@snipersquad100]

@@peterwilliams5631 Where Peter?

[@davidbongni5715]

The white precipitate is silver sulfate, as the concentration of your solution was oversaturated👍🏻

[@jean-francoisavon62]

Yup. This is why the Hoke book said to dilute it in AMPLE quantity of water. Solubility in water 0.57 g/100 mL (0 °C) 0.69 g/100 mL (10 °C) 0.83 g/100 mL (25 °C) 0.96 g/100 mL (40 °C) 1.33 g/100 mL (100 °C)[2]

[@AirForce15A]

So your saying there was too much water used?

[@mcwolfbeast]

@@AirForce15A No... instead not enough water. the oversaturated solution when being poured into the water still resulted in a total amount of silver sulfate that was more than his 700-odd (and later 1200-odd) ml of distilled water could hold, so it precipitated out.

[@brandonmccullah710]

@@frankroberts9320 I thought he checked it for copper with 10% amonia is this an unreliable method to test for copper sulfate?

[@frankroberts9320]

@@brandonmccullah710 That test must be done in neutral or basic pH. An acidic solution will simply neutralize the ammonia. I usually run this test with 25% NH4OH, which tends to force the pH >7.

[@aubreymarsh2309]

Great content as always! I thoroughly enjoy gaining hobbies and enjoy it even more when I can learn from others' mistakes! Thank you very much for putting your experience online!

[@iknklst]

I'd need a fume hood if I ate that many raw veggies at one time.

[@scottcampbell7944]

If you just get rid of the cheese you will be eating completely healthy.

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

@@scottcampbell7944 Uhuh sure!

[@AshleyReneeKuntz]

This is the best comment ever

[@LeonardoSpadetto]

Well Mr. Sreetips, as far as i know, the silver sulfate is little soluble in water, just like the silver chloride (maybe a bit more soluble than the second one). So, when you took a concentrated sulfuric solution and diluted it on distilled water, part of the silver sulfate precipitaded out.

[@TheBlessedMeek]

Was temperature not a factor as well?

[@farajiali1687]

You are my teacher I most respect you, and God bless you. Thanks for this video.

[@sreetips]

Thank you. I’d like to develop this a little more to get a good yield. I think it can get just as good yield as nitric can. Just have to tweak it some.

[@iyziejane]

Thanks for showing your lunch (in addition to all the interesting chemistry as usual). One of the great things about the personality you show in these videos is that you exude personal discipline.

[@ryansimpson3074]

And discipline is key to achieving success.

[@donaldparlettjr3295]

Love the skull and crossbones on the sugar🤣🤣👍. As Mary Poppins says" a spoonful of sugar makes the silver fall down, the sugar fall down"

[@joerowland607]

Works with Karo syrup too.

[@ic_trab]

Probably has it on there so it is no longer considered "food grade" as it has been used in an environment where it can get contaminated.

[@jimcoppa6946]

You obviously live healthy may you have a long life I learn a lot from you this is a great Channel

[@sreetips]

Thank you!

[@ricksewardpumping431]

I keep watching your videos and I sure appreciate this. I'm so glad you put these out there. I'm learning a lot. I'll be doing it real soon.

[@goranaxelsson1409]

Solubility of silver sulfate is about 1 gram per 100 ml of water, 1.3 liter could hold about 10 grams which is consistent with the resulting button. Take the white salt that crashed out of the sulfuric acid and boil it in another liter of distilled water, then test it with some chloride salt. I think you will be surprised.

[@sreetips]

1.33g per 100ml at 100C. Thanks Goran, had to look it up. I figured some of the silver got hung up in that precipitate. Plus, it too is light sensitive.

[@Shad0wBoxxer]

I was wondering if it it was super saturated silver basically lol

[@buggsy5]

@@sreetips Yep, and only 0.96 grams at 40 degrees C. That precipitate is almost 100% silver sulfate., with probably a trace of copper sulfate. Copper sulfate has a much higher solubility in water, so very little of it will precipitate during the dilution step. It might be easier to just pour off the mixed metal solution and just dump it into your stock pot. You could then continue the processing with the almost pure silver sulfate precipitate.

[@craoun6116]

The precipitate you're getting might very well be silver sulfate, which is soluble in sufuric acid, but poorly soluble in water. That's why it came out of solution when you diluted the acid. You can turn the solid silver sulfate into silver oxide just by mixing it thoroughly with sodium hydroxide the same way you did with the silver chloride.

[@sreetips]

Really? I had no idea. I just did a video on getting the silver chloride from the sulfate. It's uploading right now. If that's the case then a totally new video is in order. I'll do side by side refinings of some sterling flatware. One in nitric and one in sulfuric. Max yield from both is the goal. Oh well.

[@craoun6116]

@@sreetips Very nice! I'm looking forward to seeing how it turned out!

[@jerrykingsley6703]

@@sreetips I am an amateur at best, but I immediately thought of what craoun said. My thinking was, the sulfuric was still 44 degrees c, when it hit the distilled water, the colder temperature combined with the fact it's water forced some silver out of solution.

[@johnlintorn6768]

2Ag + 2H2SO4 ---> Ag2SO4 + SO2 + 2H20 Ag2SO4 is hardly soluble in H20 at room temp. So that precipitate is going to be Ag2SO4. You need to heat to 100degC for a solubility of 1.33g /litre. You could thermally decompose the Silver Sulfate. Ag2SO4 + Heat ---> 2Ag + SO2 +O2

[@jerrykingsley6703]

@@johnlintorn6768 i am searching for a source that can teach me the chemistry behind everything. It seems what you said is what I said, just exhibiting a much greater understanding of the material. are there any books on the subject that you've read that you felt helped everything 'click' together? I would like to start a dialogue with you about a few roadblocks I have hit. If you are interested and can provide contact information, it would be greatly appreciated

[@glassofwater3767]

I really like the little things you do in your videos to show a personal side to all of the things you do. Keep it up, Sreetips!

[@robinpage2730]

The precipitate is silver sulfate. It's poorly soluble in cold water, about 8 g/100mL, goes way up in solubility to around 80 g/100mL in .10% molar sulfuric acid/water. Adding a small amount of sulfuric acid to the beaker and hearing it would have dissolved most of that white stuff.

[@sreetips]

Add a little sulfuric, I'll have to make a note of that thank you.

[@jasonsummit1885]

Wish I could have learned metallurgical chemistry like this, guess it's not too late to start.😁

[@mikeconnery4652]

Yup never too late

[@6980869]

Cool video REETIPS! Thanks for sharing that process with us. Aloha😉

[@youarerightthanksforadmitt846]

I agree! Need to go to the grocery store for some lunch supplies. Good video👍

[@andrewgoodwin4771]

When you pulled out the book to show your facts is when you had me sold. Thanks for the video. im about to refine 13.8 pounds of silver plate. ill be refering to your video alot.

[@sreetips]

I didn’t use silver plated material, I did this experiment with solid sterling silver. If you use silver plated material then the yield will be very low. My guess is not even an ounce of silver from 13.8 pounds of silver plate. Plus, a lot of toxic sulfuric acid waste that must be treated prior to disposal. Hot sulfuric is very dangerous. It will burn a hole in your skin if any gets on you. One guy reported that it makes an open wound, very deep, that doesn’t heal well even after thinking all the acid was rinsed and washed away. The risk is too high to try this on silver plate. Especially if you’re new to this. Not a good place for a beginner to start.

[@betadoctor]

A man that owns a hard copy of Refining precious metal wastes by C.M Hoke is a hero IMHO.

[@undersiege3402]

calm morrison hoke? want a copy?

[@bencapobianco2045]

The only problem with the hard cover of that book is by the time you refine enough gold to afford it you won’t need it anymore

[@undersiege3402]

@@bencapobianco2045 a digital copy

[@AllKidsCorner]

Thank you sreetips. In norway its not legal to own nitric acid for privat use. I really wanted to try refining silver at home and you showed me a way. Cheers.

[@MikeTuby]

the white precipitate is silver sulfate, which does not well disolve in water.

[@sreetips]

Got it, I'll redissolve it in sulfuric acid, then pour it into more water to get more of the silver. Thank you!

[@bocamint4937]

Typically I make a salad dressing from Acetic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Piperine and Oleic Acid. Use a 3:1 Ratio of Oleic to Acetic Acid, then Sodium Chloride and Piperine to taste. Yummy.

[@mikeeureka2171]

Oh man the lunch looks AWESOME! MAKING ME hungry!

[@999fine5]

This is a fantastic resource, thanks Sreetips, definately a thumbs up and saved to my refining playlist! Now if only there were a way to do something similar with gold... 🤔

[@genehunsinger3981]

You have to wonder WHO was THE 1st one to figure out this process.Metal into a liquid with common items.Kinda makes you want to hit the yard sales.

[@sreetips]

Mrs sreetips bought $1500 worth of gold yesterday - for $485. People are clueless about gold. As long as they can keep gold price from spiking up we should be able to keep doing this. But when it gets away from them, and people begin to understand that the metal is worth more than the paper dollars, then we won’t be able to find it anymore - anywhere. A spike in gold price will put sreetips out of business!

[@damxgopak457]

Did you ever discover what the first strange precipitate was.thank you for your teachings I have studied hard and have my own lab now and am processing my gold from my lode claim I owe it to you.listen to this man if you want to learn how but you have to put in much effort and study.

[@sreetips]

Yes, it was silver sulfate. Just add hydrochloric to silver sulfate and it turns to silver chloride - like magic!

[@ambsquared]

Won’t sea salt have trace iodine in it? I would think kosher salt would be closer to being just NaCl.

[@SuperLaplander]

Thank you sir! That was a very nice video, maybe one of your best in my book. All the filming and editing you do for us, thanks once more.

[@Cdubb4728]

That’s silver sulfate falling out of solution. It’s solubility in cold/room temperature water is fairly low, no where near the solubility of silver nitrate. Bringing it back up to boil should bring all that back into solution, then while it’s hot is the time to do the chloride drop. If I remember correctly the solubility at 100 degrees C is about 1.5 grams per 100ml of water. Whereas in cold water it is about 0.4 or 0.5 grams per 100ml.

[@sreetips]

Video of this exact process uploading as I write.

[@mineralmammalprospecting]

This looks like one to try. Thank you! 👍🏻🍺

[@ProspectorTripp]

Sreetips.. This video really perked you up! Glad to see you enjoying your hobby at a joyful level again! Don’t make me worry 😉 ✌️PT

[@sreetips]

What really made me happy was doing the experiment before hand without that pesky camera looking over my shoulder. I think this made for a better video because I knew what to expect. Many of my videos are shot in the raw; you're seeing me do it for the first time ever with out any knowledge of what to expect.

[@wadebert4458]

Well, I gave this refining processes a go. I also ended up with ALLOT of Silver Sulfate. Also of note, in the bottom of the beaker with boiling Sulfuric Acid and Silver, a black cement formed, that cemented a stir bar fast to the bottom of the beaker. I had to use some heavy duty, needle nose pliers to break it up. My solution is cooled and settling over night. The "Silver Cell", your engineering, is Percolating really well. I just started it this afternoon and I already have a really nice accumulation of Silver Crystal's forming on the Cathode! Completely Awesome. The black, very dense, cement that formed, will fill my burn cup, probably 4 times, altogether. I figured that I'd melt it into metal, and, then test it, to see what in creation it is. I did notice a redish blush, in the Sulfuric Acid I used, that was not present in yours. Maybe an, "Unknown" chemical slipped in. I used pure Sulfuric Acid, so I really am a little stumped. I'll burn it tomorrow and let you know what I've got. Another good purchase, on another flatware set today. Sterling Silver. This time it was a bit more dear, to the tune of 2K. Worth it though. A little over 10 pounds, English Standard weight. My digital scales haven't arrived yet. The only thing that is a pain, with both sets, recently purchased. The blades on the knives, cake server and butter knife, all have Stainless blades and the tang of the blade, running up into the handle! What a pain! Great Grandma's are completely Sterling Silver, even the blades. Lost a bit of weight there; but, still worth it. Your presentation of the face value of a quarter versus it value in the Silver it was made from, really reverberated! That is a very good method for the explanation of the value of Precious Metals against our printed currency. With this current administration.... Woops! Sorry! We don't do "Politics"! You have a pleasant evening. Thank you again for reigning, dormant grey matter, that is now crunching equations again! It feels great and is fun and is, (with the element of possible catastrophic disaster, explosions and other neat stuff), really exciting! Wade

[@sreetips]

Can’t go wrong converting your paper to silver, my opinion.

[@wadebert4458]

@@sreetips Your opinion counts in my family!

[@wadebert4458]

Still don't know what the original black cement is. 3 Map gas torches and the cutting head on my OXYACETALYNE rig. Just won't melt! Incredible! So much heat was being produced, it warped my ¼ inch Steel burn table! Going to add a 2nd OXYACETALYNE torch to what I've already tried. If that doesn't melt it, I'll try the Kiln....... Never had the Kiln as hot as all the gas torchs combined, produced. One way or another, it's going to melt, (Or I'll go out in a BLAZE OF GLORY)!...... Well, hopefully not. Guessing that I'll find out!

[@TomokosEnterprize]

You sure come up with some great ideas. What a sweet wee bar.I must have had at least a dozen new subs mentioning you sent them today and a bunch over the last week since your last post. Thank you very much my dear friend.

[@sreetips]

Nice!

[@WhatUpDawg]

7:13 you should melt that watch!

[@strykergames2195]

i agree :)

[@sreetips]

That's my new (really old) 14k automatic Omega Pie Pan that my wife found for me $100 at a sale. The Longines will go to my son-in-law Randy.

[@BullProspecting]

Great work!! Your are hands down my favorite channel! I have literally tons of old misc electronics. I wanted to start processing stuff but I don't have a fume hood and I'm super freaked out with dealing with nitric acid. I have a liter if nitric but I have not used it yet due to not having a fume hood. I was thinking of building a tiny shed out in my backyard so I can turn it into a lab. The only thing is it get so cold in the winter months. I'm still a newbi but I'm trying really hard to be good so I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before continuing on. The other problem I'm having is because I'm not processing any old electronics so they keep piling up. I was wondering if by chance you could do a video to demonstrate an inexpensive way to get started?

[@sreetips]

I don’t process much electronics for precious metals. The yields are too low.

[@AshleyReneeKuntz]

Those loafers are hella nice Mr. Tips

[@AshleyReneeKuntz]

Those are my initials! A.K.

[@ericboatwright8893]

lol, so last year I played around with silver in nitric acid then winter came. I learned what happens when silver gets to cold when dissolved in nitric acid. I figured that sulfuric acid considering how hot it gets would give me a better result than it turning to silver Nitrate crystals,,,, I was wrong, lol, but it was fun and interesting figuring out how to fix it so now I’m done for the year till it’s warmer. Thanks sreetips!

[@dwaynelowery5808]

I gave a slight against you before but I retract it and praise you for your work helping new miners. Thank you

[@JesusisLord-7A]

You need to do a chess set that one side is pure silver and the other is pure gold.

[@sreetips]

One side pure silver. The other side is 25% pure gold alloyed with 75% streling silver. Then encrusted with gem stones.

[@ut000bs]

@@sreetips The silver king weighs 10 troy oz. plus gems, etc. Gothic-style.

[@philouzlouis2042]

Too bad you didn't weight the initial amount of metal you started from. If you aim is to recover silver, you should keep the first white precipitate... what is mainly Ag2SO4. It is possible that Ag2SO4 is quite soluble into the concentrated H2SO4 by complexation or due to the lack of water, but crashes out of solution when dilluted. Copper sulfate remains soluble and this is observed all allong your process. To me the use of NaCl to make HCl via in situ reaction with H2SO4 and precipitation of AgCl is useless... You can start immediately from demi-water washed solid Ag2SO4 to the next step. Ag2SO4 (s) + 2 NaOH (aq) --> 2 AgOH (s) + Na2SO4 (aq) 2AgOH (s) --> Ag2O + H2O (via heating) C6H12O6 + Ag2O --> 2 Ag + C6H12O7 (gluconic acid as Na gluconate) (via heat and basic NaOH media). I hope this will help you increase the yield, efficiency and reduce the wastes. PHZ (PHILOU Zrealone)

[@parcydwr]

That is a good reply. I am trying to figure out a process where I can use easily available chemicals for recovering some silver plate. You say the copper sulphate remains soluble and this is observed all along your process. How is that being observed? In your method you say.... 2AgOH (s) --> Ag2O + H2O (via heating). Do you simply melt the solid with heat and the water comes off as water vapour? From reading your reaction I guess that is what the process is. I presume the silver oxide could then be added to the silver oxide he precipitated out from the rest of his solution before the conversion to silver metal so all of the silver is recovered. I am wondering if the sulphuric acid and silver reaction would work if the sulphuric acid was less concentrated? I have about 10 litres of sulphuric acid I recovered from scrap batteries and wondering if I can use it. I realised this morning I have a battery hydrometer so can measure its density and maybe give me a clue of its concentration.

[@philouzlouis2042]

@@parcydwr Hi Robert Smith, thank you. The Cu (copper sulfate - CuSO4.xH2O is blue like Cu(2+) what is dissolved ion (into water)... the dehydrated form is white and recolor blue as soon as it catches moisture from the air or liquid water). That color is observed into Sreetips video process into the collecting "recycling" drum. Copper is often joined to Silver to make harder and cheaper alloys. Silver and copper are two "precious" or "near precious" metals and they display a special property to have a high oxydation (électro-)potential... as such they oxydise their ion against glucose if hot and in presence of a base (oxydoredox potential can express in acidic (H(+)) media or basic (OH(-)) with different processes and results... In the present case copper sets a characteristic precipitate of Cu2O red (or sometimes a copper mirror) and silver a characteristic mirror or grey powder. In general aldehydes (reductible) can react to form the related acid... here gluconic acid. Ag(+) + 1e(-) --> Ag(0) (silver mirror or dust) Cu(2+) + 1e(-) --> Cu(1+) (like into Cu2O see Fehling test for sucrose/aldoses) Cu(1+) + 1e(-) --> Cu(0) HO-CH2-CHOH-CHOH-CHOH-CHOH-CH=O --> HO-CH2-CHOH-CHOH-CHOH-CHOH-C(=O)-OH (here only the aldehyd group is oxydised to a carboxylic one and it passes from +1 oxydation state to +3 oxydation state) The AgOH turns into Ag2O suspension/precipitate from "maturation" (concentration and heat of solution). Paradoxaly Ag2O is specifical as it is not wel linked to its oxygen and it will set it free upon heating to live "native" silver and pure oxygen... this happens also with Gold whose oxide is also unstable and even explosive (set O2 free explosively from heat). 2 Ag2O -heat-> 2 Ag2 + O2(g) I will reply a bit further/deeper later about the process of Sreetips soon. PHZ (PHILOU Zrealone from the Science Madness forum)

[@timbossch8807]

Love your hat mate. I was on Patrol Boats for 8 years.

[@sreetips]

I served on two destroyers and a fast frigate. The Navy was good to me. And I to it.

[@silvertaniwha1314]

WOW WOW WOW 🤯🤯🤯 THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS IVE SEEN IN QUITE A WHILE 😎👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Wish I had a set up like yours..... I'd definitely be doing this for myself.

[@robdawg1017]

Forget metal refining... 7:40 Sreetips in with that healthy diet flex!!

[@sharonfreeman7047]

Hi! Just wondering - where did you come up with “Sreetips”? Love your videos! 👍

[@sreetips]

A variation of my last name (Peters) spelled backwards.

[@taino1642]

My girlfriend hears sweet ti#! Love the channel.

[@BBRDAKING]

@@sreetips tried this and my solution was black

[@RobertKennymore]

My guess for the white precipitate on crashing with water would be silver sulfate. Sterling is usually just silver and copper and the copper sulfate is probably pushing it out of solution as the temperature drops. Hope you didn't throw it out :)

[@sreetips]

Video on it uploading right now.

[@simonstclare]

Back in the day, I used to work in a photographic mini lab. We were told that our depleted chemistry contained silver from all the 35mm films that had been through it. The value of that silver helped to pay for the processing of the used chemistry so it could be safely disposed of. It'd be great if you could make a video to show how much silver can be extracted from the chemistry and the process for doing it

[@sreetips]

I have a single video on recovery of silver from X-ray films posted on my channel.

[@1gixxer11]

The precipitate is silver sulphate powder. Silver sulphate is insoluble in water and the dilutuon of silver sulphate and sulfuric acid in water causes the silver sulphate to precipitate out somewhat.

[@jakestarr4718]

it is best to let it cool first for one main reason, pgm's can turn to sulphates and drop back out when it cools. Pgm sulphates can also precipitate upon dilution. I've experimented with this and its interesting. Pgm's will also drop out fully when adding sodium chloride. It can get complex very fast, but a great cheap way to remove base metals from a large bulk of material. Most interesting part is the copper will be attacked last if pgms are present, all noble metals seem to go up into solution first which yields some really clean pour offs early in the process. You say large amounts of waste, ehh depends on how crazy you get rinsing otherwise waste amount isn't so bad after you filter copper and other base metals off using iron, just don't forget your zinc and iron after neutralizing the acid. However you can recycle the acid if you're clever and it greatly reduces waste other than rinsing. i've found it to be a useful method as well to separate say rhodium from platinum or ruthenium from palladium.

[@ChrisJ-mf7cj]

Brilliant. You just always amaze me and are entertaining at the same time as being a teacher of sorts.

[@frankroberts9320]

The low solubility of your silver sulfate is being aggravated by the common ion effect. There is quite a bit of unreacted sulfuric acid and copper II sulfate in your solution. H2SO4 and CuSO4 are much more soluble than Ag2SO4. The water becomes so saturated with sulfate ions that it can't solvate any more. This pushes the solubility equilibrium of silver sulfate far to the left and crashes out Ag2SO4. The precipitate is very pure silver sulfate, which you might be able to take directly to silver oxide with NaOH. If that works, you might consider crashing out all the sulfate by adding an excess of sulfuric acid, filtering, then going straight to the lye step.

[@olawlor]

XRF would give you a definitive answer, but that white precipitate has to be either (1) a contaminant in your sulfuric acid, or (2) a salt of one of the metals from your sterling, so a silver, copper, tin, etc sulfate / oxide/ hydrate. Likely contaminants in drain cleaner sulfuric acid include a corrosion inhibitor like Rhodine 31A, which can crash out when neutralized (you might try pouring a few mL of the acid into 10 mL of water and see if you get a similar precipitate volume). Silver sulfate is a white salt that is barely soluble in neutral water (1.3g/100mL at 100C), but it's light sensitive like silver nitrate, and the missing silver's mass would show up if you can get a yield on one of those runs. Most copper sulfates are vivid blue and highly soluble. Tin, nickel, cadmium, or zinc sulfates all seem too soluble (33g/100mL, 65g/100mL, 76g/100mL, and 57g/100mL respectively). A tin or zinc oxide seems like a possibility too, depending on the sterling.

[@sreetips]

It was silver sulfate.

[@ricksewardpumping431]

Well, now I know why your silver electrolytes are blue colored keep learning I keep learning I love it

[@OceanSlim]

This is the most backyard chemist project I've ever seen. It's cool and all and a great learning experience but I really wouldn't trust that's anywhere close to 3 9's fine... and I certainly wouldn't go around telling other people it was after the loosest refinement process I've ever seen...

[@sreetips]

Three nines - I guarantee it because I refined it

[@shdwbnndbyyt]

FYI -- Sea salt does contain SOME iodine although less than iodized salt. As for the precipitate, "Sterling silver is prone to tarnishing,[1][2] and elements other than copper can be used in alloys to reduce tarnishing, as well as casting porosity and firescale. Such elements include germanium, zinc, platinum, silicon, and boron." So possibly you are seeing one of these other materials, like silicon, boron or zinc compounds precipitating out, but I am not sure of their solubilities in concentrated versus dilute (~20%v/v) sulfuric acid. One suggestion for saving cash, buy bulk paper coffee filters, great for initial filtering and work really well with buchner funnels.

[@sreetips]

I had not ever though of using coffee filter in the Büchner funnel - that's a great idea. I believe that the precipitate is merely silver sulfate. To get the silver I'll dissolve it (the silver sulfate) in boiling water then add the salt while its still boiling, before it has a chance to cool down and precipitate as silver sulfate again.

[@riderofthewhitehorse]

Great video with close-ups and details. I love watching you produce 999 fine silver.

[@1kreature]

I have a fun challenge for you. High purity Bismuth! Many places that sell Bismuth seem to claim 4 or even 5 9's but if you try and grow bismuth crystals they may either never form properly or be gray and dull in luster. I tried this myself and so far it seems electrolysis is an option but it is soooo slow.

[@sreetips]

Sorry, I don’t know anything about bismuth.

[@zarathean8758]

Thanks for the new book purchase

[@nexrift7140]

I literately go tp sleep watching your videos Thank you sir

[@marcmccreary6617]

love the lunch break

[@tacocubed]

That salad looked amazing. But I think I can smell your breath from here :p

[@Navschannel3908]

I'm pretty sure that the silver sulfate that is created during the dissolving in sulphuric acid, and when you add heat the sulfate sheds the sulfur molecule, and then when added back to distilled water, it absorbs the oxygen molecule, becoming a silver oxide, which in turn is heavier than water. Then settles out in the water, if you were to have set the solution aside for 48 hours or so, more silver would have made the chemical shift to oxide from sulfide, and slowly develop a sulfur oxide on the surface of the water.

[@brianlutzak]

because of the improper stamping it now has numismatic value and is actually worth more ;)

[@professortrog7742]

Judging from the color there might be more other metals in the bar then you may suspect. An xrf test would be a nice way to find out for sure.

[@rudycorona6964]

very nice!!! shiny..... you got a lot really right if it was just that candle holder.

[@drewreavis5191]

I’m a chemistry graduate, and So the stuff that crashed out of solution was likely silver sulfate, silver sulfate is not very soluble in water, unless the water is super acidic. Upon dilution, you raised the pH, and crashed it out of solution

[@sreetips]

I solved it by not adding water. Instead I slowly added hydrochloric acid a little at a time directly to the silver sulfate solution. The chloride comes down immediately. Silver chloride is then rinsed with plenty of water to remove the acids. Then I convert the silver chloride to pure silver metal with lye and sugar. Welcome to my channel Drew. I almost failed the only chemistry class I ever took back in high school 50 years ago.

[@drewreavis5191]

@@sreetips that would make sense, as silver chloride has such a low solubility level, even extremely acidic solutions couldn’t solvate it. I love the channel, I actually found your channel through some hobby chemistry research. Anyway, if you ever have a chemistry question, comment, or concern, I’d love to help!

[@sreetips]

Excellent Drew, thank you

[@anthoneyking6572]

Damn Chemistry is so entertaining if you have the brain for it I just can't get enough thank you sreetips I really enjoy your vlogs

[@nikola96uf]

White precipitate when you dissolved silver in sulfuric acid is silver sulfate, it is slightly soluble in water. Silver hydrogen sulfate was soluble in sulfuric acid but when you diluted, equilibrium shifts and almost insoluble silver sulfate is formed so you technically discarded most of the silver.

[@jameseves9209]

So what would or could you do to prevent the silver sulfate

[@nikola96uf]

@@jameseves9209 Nothing. Simply do not use sulfuric acid. Use nitric acid and precipitate silver with copper metal. You can recycle both copper metal and nitric acid from Cu(NO3)2 byproduct with sulfuric acid and aluminum metal. Also, this way of getting silver from silver chloride is not very efficient. It's much better to put sodium hydroxide with silver solution to precipitate silver hydroxide which turns to oxide and then pure silver, when heated. But here you cannot do it because raw silver contains base metals like copper so hydroxide will be contaminated so best way is definitely precipitating Ag with Cu from AgNO3/Cu(NO3)2 mixture when you dissolve raw silver in nitric acid

[@IronBridge1781]

Starting my metal refining journey with help from this video, wish me luck in my eBay endeavours!

[@sreetips]

Start small to get the feel for it. Resist the urge to go all in with a hundred grams of karat gold. Instead start with just five grams to see how it goes.

[@IronBridge1781]

@@sreetips Will do, thanks for the advice.

[@robinpage2730]

A shortcut I'm experimenting with right now is adding Spectricide stump remover (100% Potassium Nitrate) to the sulfuric acid solution and heating it. The mixture creates nitric acid in-situ and seems to dissolve the metal (copper and silver out of scrap jewelry) exactly like commercial nitric acid. So far, so good. We'll see how the potassium bisulfate follows the silver through the process and if it messes up the silver or gold. Perhaps you'd like to try this experiment with your setup.

[@xmachine7003]

How did your mixture work out? Did the silver come out clean or contaminated?

[@knowldedge5012]

how do you separate the silver from the rest after the "poorman's nitric" solution dissolve everything (copper, silver)

[@sreetips]

I’ve never tried this, but if it works and everything dissolves (have to filter out solids with a micro fiber glass filter due to sulfuric with dissolve a paper filter) then the silver can be precipitated by adding hydrochloric acid (carefully because it reacts violently with sulfuric) to precipitate out the silver chloride. Then the silver chloride can be converted to pure silver with lye and sugar.

[@knowldedge5012]

@@sreetips it should work with sulfuric and potassium nitrate for the dissolving phase? By the way amazing salad.

[@sreetips]

I don’t know because I’ve never tried it.

[@gyvren]

Sreetips keepin healthy! Lunch looks good! Lots of fiber. 😉👍

[@Newmath907]

Love your videos Sreetips! Thank you brother

[@ericboatwright8893]

After months of researching I did my first silver recovers with the no nitric acid.

[@dusmangi]

think your using the natures way that takes place deep inthe earths crust

[@djcbanks]

I giggle every time he says lye and sugar. I can’t help but think he’s saying *Lion Sugar* and the thought of that makes me laugh. 🦁🍭

[@tommystrickland6312]

If the sulfuric wasn't purified that powder layer is the buffers drain cleaner has in it to protect pipes.

[@kieranodea771]

That white precipitate is silver sulfate ;). It tends to only wan't to dissolve in concentrated H2so4, once diluted with water the solubility goes down.

[@robmcewen3448]

Very educational , thank you for sharing

[@YmammodallalModa]

❤nice work....

[@garfield12344]

Precipitate is PbSO4 which is insoluble, or water had Cl ions so AgCl maybe..., Or if Sn is present is SnO2...

[@S.P.C.]

That's my kind of meal right there!

[@Dealazer]

I believe the Silver is on the bottom at when you poured the silver nitrate and copper nitrate into distilled water. Since it's more heavy weight than copper and water. When molecule weight is higher than 100. The molecules as Silver of 107 are heavy weighting. Copper will just float in the water. The ending result gets blue color as only copper. But as copper and silver in nearly same is like the same as green and blue. But silver in bottom make only copper look blueish, when copper is green with Silver. But both can make either what they represent. So green solution has more likely copper and silver. But both can be sometimes either blue or green. But what Silver acts as color is gray. As in the second solution with the mixer. You don't know it before you pour copper and silver which is used as alloy together. There is actual strange difference in the color blue and green. Both don't make yellow color. But they make their dark green and dark black blue which in logic can't make yellow. But as soon it either is blue or green dark. Having only darker colors. You should try as well to find out easiest way for copper refining. Many people would be interested in 100% output refining. You nearly where there. So best solution is really to take out the water of blue into other compartment. As silver lies in the bottom. What you had when you first dissolved with sulfuric acid was platina and in the bottom as very darkish collection. Might as well be titanium or other metals as gold. But palladium is clearly short the same molecule weight. Since nature make palladium first as halving to Silver. If there is no escape of energy palladium stays in the mountain. It is short lived. The molecule weight represents important information. I believe you know much. But you might not know everything yet?

[@robmcewen3448]

Refiners Bible, thank you sir!!

[@mentaljason]

I love that you had sugar labeled as a poison :')

[@joshua.snyder]

Your precip is likely Silver Sulfate. The temperature change can trigger the reaction.

[@sreetips]

I'll dissolve it in boiling water then add salt while its still hot to get the remaining silver chloride.

[@customcraft1]

This was another great video

[@johnnunez6940]

Nothing like sweet pure silver com'on...

[@guitargirlie88]

*Sneaks in and takes Sreetips lunch.....* it looks fantastic!

[@mikeconnery4652]

Beautiful silver bar

[@sficlassic]

The white sediment could be zinc sulfate. Stirling silver is an alloy about 90 % silver and 10 % of copper, nickel or zinc. Possibly others. The blue/green is probably copper sulfate II I think.

[@sreetips]

Silver sulfate

[@kaball6545]

When I was doing this, after I put the acid into the water I left it for a few days and I built up a thick layer of that precipitate

[@Qwertypp10]

The white precipitate will be either AgSO4 or PbSO4, they both disolve in water weakly.

[@dynomania]

Hello Sreetips I think if you added some Potassium Nitrate (Stump Remover) to the solution it will work a lot like Nitric acid. I tried it once before sourcing Nitric and it worked pretty well.

[@sreetips]

Poor man’s aqua regia - I’ve never tried it.

[@dynomania]

@@sreetips time for a video perhaps 😇

[@matthewf1979]

I know Sreetips said this here but be very, VERY careful with boiling 98% (any concentration really)Sulfuric Acid. It’ll scold and dissolve skin very, very fast. It’s boiling point is over 600F, which can be very deceiving. It’s like pouring molten lead on your skin with the added effect of dissolving everything it touches very fast. That Rooto brand Sulfuric Acid is the good stuff. Nice and clear, possibly no iron passivates or organic compounds. You could make some very pure nitric acid with nitrate salts using it, like 99% fuming. It’s not really good for refining due to the extreme chance of runaway, but I’ve never tried it. Thanks for showing that brand of drain cleaner, my local hardware store has it in gallons for $26.

[@sreetips]

It about the same here, used to be about $15 per gallon back in 2010 when I first started. Has it become that much more valuable? Or has the currency lost that much value?

[@matthewf1979]

@@sreetips it’s a Do it Best, price has been that high for a few years now. According to the bar code tag anyways. I know we’re hosed anyways.

[@mikeharris9097]

i just want to informally say thankyou, for your knowledge , your kind demeanor, your excellent video quality and your no-nonsense constan commitment to science. Everything I have learned I have learned from you. my girlfriend and i joke around about you all the time. WWSD

[@sreetips]

Cool deal, thank you!

[@mikeharris9097]

@@sreetips do you believe its a good idea to buy one of those melted down computer pin bars that are 300grams for 45 $ on ebay to practice purification?

[@sreetips]

@@mikeharris9097 absolutely not a good idea. Total rip off

[@roneckler9937]

Those bars are most likely 99.9% base metals with only .1% Au. That wouldn't even yield you your $45.00 Back you spent on it. Including the cost of chemicals you would need to refine it. :)

[@jonnymakeschemicals2714]

Its silver sulfate witch in water is insoluble, but when in a highly concentrated solution of sulfuric acid probably of 98% or higher the silver will react and dissolve since there is almost no water present. then when you poured that solution into the water the silver sulfate crashed out because the ph becomes to high for it to remain dissolved.

[@sreetips]

I solved it by pouring in hydrochloric acid instead of water. It immediately forms silver chloride and I avoid the silver sulfate formation