The Electrolytic Recovery of Silver from Photographic Fixing Baths

Photographic technology is based on light sensitivity of silver halides that, because of silver properties, are capable of forming photographic images. Photographic laboratories and hospital departments because of digital photographic systems less use this technology today. Nevertheless recovery of solver is still advantageous because environmental problems related to Ag ions danger to biological system. Many processes have been studied to treat silver containing photographic bath: cementation, chemical precipitation and electrowinning. In this work, after preliminary voltammetric tests, a batch electrometallurgical process has been studied. The effect on process yield and deposit quality, of silver concentration in the electrolyte, varying over the range 3-10 g/L, bath stirring, current density ranging from 10 to 200 A/m2 has been investigated.