Silver recovery from e-waste


Silver finds great use in electronic as well as in the photographic industry. An unbelievable percentage of the annual global consumption of silver is used in photography alone. Silver coated wires and components are used in electronic devices. Silver contacts are used in electrical devices. Silver is also used in automobile industry, X-ray films, Ultrasound films. And photo films used in photography also have a silver coating on them. And the price of silver has also shot like anything over a short period of time. And this shooting silver price has caused lots of people to take a deep interest in the silver extraction business. We are getting so many inquiries every day. Lots of people are asking about silver recovery from e-waste.

The good thing about this business is that it can be started both on a small as well big scale. And you don’t require much space for it. And the best part of it is that it does not create pollution if proper care is taken. Nor it requires big and expensive machinery as does computer waste recycling. In some countries, people burn x-ray films to extract silver from them. But in India it is not so, here the x-ray films are dipped in a chemical, and then the films are washed and cleaned with water. The silver goes into the water and is chemically separated, dried and melted into pure silver bars. The silver recovered from x-ray films is quite pure.

Apart from films silver is also reclaimed from exhausted hypo and fixer solutions used in the development of x-ray and photo films. A great quantity of x-ray scrap and spent fixer solution can be procured from x-ray centers, government hospitals and color photo labs, and huge profits can be made from it. Some people suggest silver extraction from fixer solutions through machines. I don’t think it is a good idea. Because it is time-consuming, and, you don’t get hundred percent silver recoveries from them. It is more advisable to extract silver from silver-containing solutions through chemicals. Chemicals remove silver from its solutions completely within very short time. The machines cost you a lot of money plus you have to pay for electricity bills also.

I can go on writing a lot about silver recovery from e-waste, but I don’t want to confuse my readers. You also get silver from components such as capacitors, transistors, old and new integrated circuits and chips. One kilogram of 3 pin old small transistors used in electronic circuits has up to 20 grams of silver. Telecommunication devices also have silver. And we get lots of silver from old telecommunication devices. Few people know that we get silver from computer keyboard also.

Those who are interested in starting silver extraction business are welcome to ask us any questions about the solution to their problems. We would be glad to extend our technical support to you.

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