Investigation of silver precipitation in the presence of PVA from amalgam dissolved in nitric acid, and the reaction kinetic

Nowadays, waste recycling has attracted special attention both in terms of environmental aspects and in terms of the recovery of precious metals. Among these, amalgam is a good candidate due to its significant amount of silver and the extent of use in the dental industry. In this study, a silver-containing solution obtained from the dissolution of amalgam in nitric acid was investigated for the silver precipitation. Initially, the role of PVA in increasing silver extraction has been proven. Then the kinetic of silver precipitation by cementation method from the solution of amalgam dissolution in nitric acid was investigated and the activation energy of ۱۶۹۱.۸۹ kJ was calculated for this process.

Keywords:

Hydrometallurgy , Silver , Amalgam , Nitric acid , Kinetics.