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Sliver Recovery from Waste X Ray Photographic Films by Electro Deposition

Satyanarayana DNV1*, Ramesh Chandra K2
1Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, R.V.R. & J. C. College of Engineering, Chowdavaram, Guntur, A.P,
India.
2Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, R.V.R. & J. C. College of Engineering, Chowdavaram, Guntur, A.P, India

ABSTRACT
Silver is a precious metal that has the highest reflectivity, as well as the highest electrical and thermal conductivity’s
when compared to any other metal. The waste X-ray photographic films containing 1.5 - 2 % (w/w) black metallic
silver would be used for recovery and reuse. Around 18-20% of the world's silver needs are supplied by recycling
photographic waste. The silver deposited was analyzed by SEM, EXD in this study. Global demand for silver remains
steadily increasing; from 25,700 metric tons in 2016 to 27,000 metric tons in 2019. More than half of silver produced
in the world is used in industries. Extraction of silver from the ore is expensive and harmful to the environment. X-
ray technique is greatly helpful for diagnosis of patient problems and hence widely used till date. Worldwide research
is going on for extraction of high purity silver from the waste X-ray films, One of the novel, simple, fast, cheap and
pollution-free method developed for recovering silver from waste X-ray photographic films is electro deposition and is
attempted in the present study.
Keywords: X-ray, Photographic film, SEM, EDX, Silver recovery

INTRODUCTION present in the “ fix‟ and the “ bleach-fix‟ solutions. Most

photographic and X-ray wastes contain silver thiosulfate with
Silver is a rare precious, naturally occurring metal, ores of where silver at a concentration of 5 parts per million (ppm). They are
are argentite, chlorargyrite, and pyrargyrite [1]. The most found in the fixer solution, rinse water, water baths and cleaning
common oxidation states of silver are +1, +2, +3 and +4 for developer tank solutions [8]. Several technologies exist to recover
AgNO3, AgF2, AgF4 and K2AgF6 respectively [2]. Silver has more silver from X-ray photographic film such as burning the film,
renowned applications. One of its most significant applications electrolysis, metal replacement, chemical precipitation and
is in the photographic industry. With the highest thermal bacterial, enzymatic methods. Except chemical methods, the
conductivity and highest optical reflectivity, it is found in other methods are expensive and time consuming to recover the
abundance in the waste X-ray photographic films. The waste X- silver [9]. The use of chemicals like sodium cyanide, nitric acid
ray/photographic films containing black metallic silver spread in and organic compounds cause environmental problems, while
gelatin are very good source for silver recovery compared to other the decomposition by microorganism is slow [10]. Ion exchange
types of film. [3]. Naturally occurring silver is composed of two processes, reduce the silver concentration in photographic
stable isotopes, 107Ag and 109Ag, of which the former is more effluent to levels in the range of 0.5 to 2 mg/L. Reverse osmosis
abundant [4, 5]. Researchers claim that silver-containing wastes (RO) and distillation recovery process are amongst the others
like used X-ray photographic film are toxic and consider them as used [11]. The major recording medium used in radiology is X-
hazardous wastes [6]. In large doses, silver and compounds ray film although the situation is changing with the introduction
containing it lead to argyria, which results in a blue-grayish of new technologies in recent years. The film can be exposed by
pigmentation of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes [7]. the direct action of X-rays, but more commonly the X-ray energy
Most households dispose these wastes into land and water is converted into light by intensifying screens and this light is
bodies. The recoverable silver in the x-ray films are mostly

*Correspondence to: Satyanarayana DNV, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, R.V.R. & J. C. College of Engineering,
Chowdavaram, Guntur, A.P, India, Tel: +92134094138, E-mail: [email protected]
Received date: July 23, 2020; Accepted date: July 30, 2020; Published date: August 03, 2020
Citation: Satyanarayana DNV (2020) Sliver Recovery from Waste X Ray Photographic Films by Electro Deposition. J Adv Chem Eng 10:199. doi:
10.35248/2090-4568.20.10.199
Copyright: © 2020 Satyanarayana DNV, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

J Adv Chem Eng, Vol.10 Iss.2 No:1000199 1

Satyanarayana DNV, et al

used to expose the film. The composition of X-ray film is plastic Figure 1. standard solutions.
60%, adhesive layer 3%, emulsion (gelatin & silver halide) 25%,
super coat (toxic metal) 10%. The present study explores the
CONCLUSION
feasibility of high purity silver recovery from waste X-ray films by
electro deposition using sodium hydroxide with a focus on the The silver got deposited on SS electrode this was determined
optimization of the parameters that affect the process of silver from EDX analysis. Though the silver is deposited on plate,
recovery. sodium has a higher peak since we have used 150 g of NaOH in
15 Liter solution to strip the black layer from X-ray’s. In graph
MATERIALS AND METHODS Concentration vs. time, we found that the concentration of
silver drop is higher from 0 to 120 min and there after it is
Sodium hydroxides (NaOH), Silver Nitrate, Laboratory grade marginal. Hence the optimum time is 120 min. In graph of
were procured. Silver nitrate was used for preparing standard concentration of silver in the electrolyte vs voltage, the
solutions. The quantity of silver is estimated using different concentration of silver decreases suddenly at voltage from 5-6 V.
concentrations of standard solutions with UV It shows that the concentration of silver reduces effectively in
spectrophotometer. Two stainless steel plates of dimensions this voltage range of (5-6V)
14cm x 11.5cm, were used as electrodes. Required voltage is
supplied by 12 volts battery with voltage regulator. Electrolysis is
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