Kinetic investigation of silver recycling by leaching from mechanical pre-treated oxygen-depolarized cathodes containing PTFE and Nickel

Abstract

This paper focuses on the recycling of silver from spent oxygen-depolarized cathodes through an innovative combination of pre-treatment methods and leaching. A silver-and polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE)-rich fraction was produced by cryogenic milling, screening, and magnetic separation. In order to understand the kinetic leaching mechanism, the silver-rich fraction was leached by different concentrations of nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide. Results showed that nickel influences the silver leaching. This leads to complex reaction systems, which cannot be described by the Arrhenius law.