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.