Towards environmentally safe recovery of platinum from scrap automotive catalytic converters

Authors: ERAY KIZILASLAN, SERDAR AKTAŞ, M. KELAMİ ŞEŞEN

Abstract: Dissolution of platinum that is incorporated in automotive catalytic converters is performed through chemical methods, which generate a large amount of secondary chemical waste that is hazardous to the environment. Therefore, there is a need to develop a cost-effective and environmentally friendly process for platinum dissolution. This paper summarizes research on the possibility of 10 HCl: 1 H_2O_2 solution to replace aqua regia for the mentioned task. Dissolution of platinum in this solvent was studied as functions of agitation rate, time, liquid/solid mass ratio, and the reaction temperature. A comparison of the solvent's efficiency with that of aqua regia was provided at every step. It was demonstrated that 95% dissolution of platinum in catalytic converters could be achieved with 10 HCl: 1 H_2O_2 solution under moderate experimental conditions, which are easy-to-adopt to industrial plants.

Keywords: Platinum, recovery, catalytic converter, aqua regia, HCl: H_2O_2 solution.

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