# seperating pgm after leaching



## aekimble (Apr 4, 2008)

Long story short I buy and sell catalytic converters but, I figured there is more to a catalytic converter I am selling. So I did the leaching process and seem to have come out with some good results. No my problem is how do I seperate the pgm's from each other. I would gladly appreciate somebody to post that process.


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## Froggy (Apr 4, 2008)

Why not give a run down on your leaching proccess? the amounts proccessed and the amounts now What kind of material do you have now?


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## aekimble (Apr 4, 2008)

using AR at various degrees I have a slurry of colors, which I guess if I drained the pgm at in each segment it may have reduced this factor somewhat. Do you have a better idea. I am willing to try any new methods for this process. I was going to melt it and have it as mixed pgm but, not exactly sure if that is worth anything


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## Froggy (Apr 5, 2008)

Here you go: We have observed by means of an electron microscope that the use of a catalyst in the exhaust system of an internal combustion engine leads to the development of differences in the sizes of the precious metal particles. For instance, in an unused catalyst the platinum and rhodium are evenly distributed throughout the wash-coat as particles of less than 0.0025 microns in diameter. A catalyst which had been used for 3,000 miles at an average 30 m.p.h. still retained the metal particles in the wash-coat but their diameters had increased to 0.1 micron. Furthermore, the surface of the larger particles tended to be rich in rhodium. A catalyst which had been used for 30,000 miles also retained the metal particles in the wash-coat, but their diameters had still further increased to 0.5 microns and discrete crystals of rhodium oxide were visible on their surfaces. 

We have also found that attempting to recover precious metals from a used catalyst yielded results which were markedly inferior, especially with respect to rhodium extraction, than corresponding tests on an unused catalyst. 

It is a well-known fact that rhodium oxide, Rh 2 O 3 , unlike finely divided rhodium metal, is substantially insoluble in acid under oxidising conditions. This would account for the poor dissolution of rhodium from used catalysts. It is thought that the rhodium oxide on the surface of the particles of the used catalysts acts as a protecting layer and thereby inhibits dissolution of the platinum from the centre of the particles by the oxidising acid.


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## aekimble (Apr 5, 2008)

So can you propose a less primitive way to extract the pgm out of cataytic converters? I have the means of making most or any unit to do this. My email address is [email protected] if you would like to discuss the conversation privately.

Thanks


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## loco (Apr 5, 2008)

hey you should probably try reading threw this forum under all these pgm threads. especially the one on platinumill on trial and exposed. alot of what you are asking has been covered there and a couple other places. Just as a word of advise unless you are skilled and have messed with it before I would recommend staying away from the cyanide methods and hydroflouric acid.


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## aekimble (Apr 5, 2008)

Maybe I am reading past one but, all I have read is how to extract the pgm from the substrate. I am looking for the process on how to segregate the pgm into their elemental metals and not have a cluster of mixed metals. To me that saves me no time and money by sending it to an assayer/refiner.


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## markqf1 (Apr 9, 2008)

Sounds like you know how to extract it and are looking for how to refine it.
There are many threads here that you should read.

Mark


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## Froggy (Apr 10, 2008)

Unless your doing it for the fun or challenge, dont waste your time, send it to a refiner,, how much material are you talking about? If its just an oz. or two forget about a refiner.. I believe Lou has put up a link once where he seperated the PGM's ( it was on another scientific forum),, way too complicated for me....


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## aekimble (Apr 10, 2008)

No, I'm talking about 1,400 catalytic converters weekly. So believe me the money is great selling them but I am looking to open a refinery in the south for myself as well as the community of precious metal collectors in the south. Evidently all of the refiners are north of the mason dixon line. Thanks for the help.


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## Froggy (Apr 10, 2008)

Good luck with your Rh! Mabey you should enlist the help of the RHODIUM KING! ha, just kidding..


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## markqf1 (Apr 10, 2008)

What do you expect the return to be on 1400 a week?

Mark


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## aekimble (Apr 10, 2008)

This has been an arduous process and have only started trying to extract and refine the pgm's out of catalytic converters. I think we are all rowing the same boat in trying to figure out the best methods to do this in which all refiners hold these secrets so closely for obvious reasons. I will keep ya posted and if anybody has any ideas feel free to either email me (link above) or post here. Thanks


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## aekimble (Apr 21, 2008)

I finally got the book and although it has some information that it useful for somethings. The catalytic converter piece was fruitless. I would like to quote him " If your operation is not efficient enough to recover a very high percentage of the values, you may find that catalytic converters are a losing proposition." I would like to say also that some of the processes he used are a bit primitive so I still have hope. I know this is a fairly complicated process but, I am going to get this accomplished (along with some help through this forum hopefully.)


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