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I want to know the cheapest way to obtain silver nitrate

I a working as an R&D; assistant and I am doing a research on silver components and to optimize the cost of production of silver nitrate. I have been searching a lot for all the possible alternatives when I came across production of silver nitrate from coin silver and scrap silver and treating with nitric acid. It involves the evolution of NO which ay not be safe and environment friendly. Can you please help me? I need to present my proposal within 5 days.

MAMTA JOTKAR
- Bangalore, KARNATAKA, INDIA
August 7, 2009

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Hi, Mamta. Short time frames for an answer, are not really consistent with public forums, which people visit periodically. But we'll post it and see what happens :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 7, 2009

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August 10, 2009

Step one--what purity do you need. All silver has at least a tiny amount of other metal in it. Silver jewelery can have a lot.
You are correct. You make silver nitrate with nitric acid, and yes, it generates NOX, assorted oxides of nitrogen and yes, it is bad for the environment.

You might find it cheaper to buy it in quantity from a reputable firm that makes it, particularly if you can use some that is slightly "off spec", which you may be able to get on an intermittent basis.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida

hi Namta,silver is base metal so it dissolve only in nitric acid & cyanide .now other part to reduce cost & time is you better rolled or make grain of silver.I suggest you to use scrubbing system to overcome the pollution problem .

Bhupesh Mulik
- Bhandup, Mumbai, Maharastra
August 29, 2009

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I suspect that by far the cheapest way to get silver nitrate is to buy it from your usus=al supplier of lab chemicals.
They have already found the cheapest source. If you have need for large quantities you could negotiate a better price.
Your lab research time is far more valuable than any saving you could hope to make.

Geoff Smith
Hampshire, England
September 15, 2009