Itronics Subsidiary Introduces Precious Metals Recycling System

Itronics Inc. reported that its subsidiary, Itronics Metallurgical, Inc., has designed and is now selling a compact, fully automated dual chamber vacuum photochemical concentrator for use by medical x-ray and consumer photoprocessing laboratories.

The new dual chamber, advanced low-temperature vacuum distillation unit design produces separate silver-bearing developer and fixer chemical concentrates, a key requirement for 100 percent "Beneficial Use Recycling" of these liquid chemicals into Itronics Metallurgical's line of GOLD'n GRO liquid fertilizers.

"The vacuum photochemical concentration units are third generation vacuum distillation machines capable of removing more than 80 percent of the water from used photochemical solutions," said John Whitney, Itronics’ president. "The recovered water is pure and can be reused." The photodeveloper and photofixer concentrates, which capture 100 percent of the silver, are shipped to Itronics Metallurgical's process plant in Reno, Nevada for silver and other heavy metal removal and conversion into base products for use in manufacturing GOLD'n GRO fertilizers.

The design of this photochemical concentrator expands Itronics Metallurgical's "Beneficial Use Photochemical and Water Recycling" services to U.S. medical x-ray and photoprocessing laboratories. The Itronics Metallurgical "Beneficial Use Photochemical and Water Recycling" technology, which is now fully commercial, makes it possible to recover 100 percent of the silver and to beneficially recycle 100 percent of the liquid photochemical waste stream and represents a major environmental technology achievement.