A hydrometallurgical process for the selective
recovery of silver from a
solid waste material, said
solid waste material deriving from waste electrical and
electronic equipment and / or from exhausted Ag-based catalysts, comprises the following steps: I) Subjecting said
solid material to acid leaching to dissolve said silver by using a leaching solution, wherein said leaching solution is an
aqueous solution of sulphuric acid,
ferric sulphate and
thiourea (H2SO4-Fe2(SO4)3-CH4N2S), said subjecting to acid leaching being carried out at ambient temperature and at
atmospheric pressure, in a
single stage or in
multiple stages; filtering the exiting leaching solution and subjecting the residual
solid material to washing with water; wherein said sulphuric acid, said
ferric sulphate and said
thiourea are contained in said leaching solution at the following concentrations: sulphuric acid 0.1-0.5 M;
ferric sulphate 10-40 g / L;
thiourea 10-40 g / L; II) Recovering said water used during said washing in said step I, replenishing said water with said sulphuric acid, said ferric sulphate and said thiourea and, when said subjecting to acid leaching is carried out in
multiple stages, using said water as a leaching solution in said
multiple stages, wherein said replenishing said water comprises adding said sulphuric acid, said ferric sulphate and said thiourea according to the following percentages compared to the dosage thereof in said step I: sulphuric acid 10-50%; ferric sulphate 80-100%; thiourea 25-50%; III) Subjecting said leaching solution exiting from said step I to
electrolysis under stirring to recover said silver as metallic silver at the
cathode and regenerate said thiourea; recovering said leaching solution at the end of said
electrolysis; IV) Replenishing said leaching solution recovered at the end of said
electrolysis in said step III con said sulphuric acid, said ferric sulphate and said thiourea, and, after said replenishing, reusing said leaching solution to treat a new solid
waste material.