Overview on hydrometallurgical procedures for silver recovery from various wastes

The core of this paper is to expose the current situation on generation and treatment of five streams that present Ag in their composition. During the last two decades, large amounts of silver recovered from primary ores has been used in the manufacturing of electrical and electronic devices. Between these devices, the current situation for printed circuit boards (component which is found in each device that make use of an electrical field) and spent plasma monitors is shown. Moreover, the button cells, which are a special category of waste at the end of their life, are also presented within this article. The spent effluents of photographic industry, X-Ray films and laboratory waste represent two other important secondary resource of silver and therefore their situation and current hydrometallurgical methods of processing will be also present within this paper.