Recovery of Silver Nitrate from Silver Chloride Waste

At many universities, silver nitrate is used in teaching laboratories, and a resulting waste product is often silver chloride. Silver chloride is not a compound that can be discarded into a sink as it has harmful effects to the environment; however, commercial waste disposal is costly, and replacement of the silver nitrate reagent is expensive. Silver chloride may be recycled back into silver nitrate, reducing costs for universities and burdens on the environment. For this study, multiple methods were tested to convert silver chloride into silver nitrate, a useful compound. The percent recovery, percent purity, cost, time required, facilities needed, and safety of the processes were compared, and an ideal method was identified to convert silver chloride waste into a useful species. This process could be used to reduce waste and cost for a university.