Fuel Cell Scrap - Platinum

[fp1erle0n1]

Hi all,
I am an eginner that works for a fuel cell company.
A fuel cell stack is a device composed by multiple cells.
Each cell has a Membrane Electrode Assembly (also known as MEA) that contains platinum as major catalyst.
At the end of the life of a stack the MEAs are taken apart and I would like to scrap them.
What will be left will be a sort of plastic membrane with the catalyst that is carbon based.
The platinum is in the form of incredibly small particles of the dimension o nanometers. They are dispersed into the carbon structure.
I know the platinum loading and the active area of the membrane so I can estimate the ammount of platinum per membrane quite easily.
Right now the fuel cell company I work for is not refining them. From what I understood they just put them to the garbage more or less or they give it to some scrap-yard that probably doesn't know the value of it.
So then I decided to take 4 samples of it and I sent it to a refinery I have been working with since a long time.
They confirmed the ammount of platinum I was expecting (around 0.2grams/membrane) and they told me that for future orders the chemical process would cost a fee of 150$ and a yield of 86% of spot price. I was not that happy about those possible returns. I was considering orders of around 50-100membranes that would equate to 10-20grams of pure platinum. I was essentially thinking to work as a middle man for the company buying directly from them the membranes to be refined.
Anybody here could be interested and might have returns that are more competitive than the one I described?
Please let me know.
Filippo

 

[lazersteve]

I've never worked with the MEA's, but it sounds like an interesting project.

PM me with your contact information so we can discuss.

Steve

 

[skippy]

How much does each membrane weigh?

 

[goldsilverpro]

From a refiner's viewpoint, the fees seem extremely fair to me - almost too fair. I am assuming the refiner gets it all and doesn't steal off the top. This stuff is going to take a lot of work.

 

[fp1erle0n1]

For LazerSteve: I'll send you a PM as soon as possible with my contacts so we can talk about the details
For GoldSilverPro: is good to know that my refinery is treating me well. It is one of the best I could possibly find for gold and silver scraping. Never had a problem. But I still wanted to ask around if a better result could be obtained.

The weight of 1 membrane is probably around 20 grams. Not more. Maybe less.

Filippo

 

[Kevin Mackin]

Hey what ever happened with this? I've got some spent fuel cells I need refined

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hey what ever happened with this? I've got some spent fuel cells I need refined

Welcome to us.

This was 10 years ago so who nows.
Many threads end like this.

 

[Lou]

I do them commercially at work. What kind are they?

 

[kurtak]

Hey what ever happened with this? I've got some spent fuel cells I need refined

Lou is your man for this !!!!!!

Kurt

 

[Kevin Mackin]

I do them commercially at work. What kind are they?

SFC Efoy Pro 2400 Duo

I've separated the fuel stack, it appears the platinum is impregnated in graphite/carbon sheets.
Would it be possible just to put these in a melting dish and use an oxy/acetylene torch?

 

[Lou]

I wouldn’t try and torch them as is. But roasting them in excess oxygen would give some metallic Pt.

 

[Kevin Mackin]

I wouldn’t try and torch them as is. But roasting them in excess oxygen would give some metallic Pt.

Would dissolving in aqua regia, filtering, then precipitating with ammonium chloride, then melting precipitant get more from it?

Any idea on percentage by weight these sheets are?

I've got everything to dissolve except nitric acid, so I was going to make my own with sodium nitrate, sulfuric acid,.and copper..

 

[Yggdrasil]

Would dissolving in aqua regia, filtering, then precipitating with ammonium chloride, then melting precipitant get more from it?

Any idea on percentage by weight these sheets are?

I've got everything to dissolve except nitric acid, so I was going to make my own with sodium nitrate, sulfuric acid,.and copper..

If it has Carbon in it it needs to be removed first.

 

[Lou]

Would dissolving in aqua regia, filtering, then precipitating with ammonium chloride, then melting precipitant get more from it?

Any idea on percentage by weight these sheets are?

I've got everything to dissolve except nitric acid, so I was going to make my own with sodium nitrate, sulfuric acid,.and copper..

No. As a rule, try to avoid dissolving platinum if you don't have to.

 

[Kevin Mackin]

If it has Carbon in it it needs to be removed first.

That's why I was wondering about dissolving it, then filtering. My thoughts were the carbon/graphite matrix that it's on would be left in the filter, and a cleaner/carbon free product could be precipitated.
Lou has recommended not dissolving it though, and with his experience processing this type of stuff I'm prone to follow his opinion.
Ive done some research and found that carbon can be "dissolved" (it's not really dissolving it, instead It's a chemical reaction that produce carbon dioxide and water) if concentrated sulfuric acid is added to carbon and heated.
I've thought about going this route, taking the platinum/ carbon sheets, grinding them down to a fine powder, putting in a beaker on a hot plate , and adding sulfuric acid until as much carbon has been dissolved as possible. My thoughts are that if this is successful it would leave behind just the Platinum and ruthemium contained in the carbon matrix.
Any thoughts or feedback on this? Thank you

 

[Yggdrasil]

That's why I was wondering about dissolving it, then filtering. My thoughts were the carbon/graphite matrix that it's on would be left in the filter, and a cleaner/carbon free product could be precipitated.
Lou has recommended not dissolving it though, and with his experience processing this type of stuff I'm prone to follow his opinion.
Ive done some research and found that carbon can be "dissolved" (it's not really dissolving it, instead It's a chemical reaction that produce carbon dioxide and water) if concentrated sulfuric acid is added to carbon and heated.
I've thought about going this route, taking the platinum/ carbon sheets, grinding them down to a fine powder, putting in a beaker on a hot plate , and adding sulfuric acid until as much carbon has been dissolved as possible. My thoughts are that if this is successful it would leave behind just the Platinum and ruthemium contained in the carbon matrix.
Any thoughts or feedback on this? Thank you

We do not support wet ashing, boiling Sulfuric is dangerous beyond what is considered safe even in lab settings.
Additionally boiling concentrated Sulfuric may dissolve some PMs.

Incinerating is easy, quick and safe.
You will be left with some ashes depending on the purity of the Carbon, and those will not interfere with later processing.
As Lou say, you really don't want to dissolve PGMs if you don't have to.

If you do however dissolve it without getting rid of the Carbon, the Carbon will soak up some of your values.
Even if you then incinerate the Carbon later some of those values will be lost.