# What to do with cats?



## Noxx (Jul 3, 2012)

Hey guys,

One customer brought me approx. $800 worth of cats. What should I do with this ?

It is too little to bring to a refinery but not large enough that is it worth processing myself. Also, I currently do not have experience with recovery of PGM in cats.

Is there someone who buys small quantity of honeycombs ? What I have is partially crushed ceramic, no metal.

The thing is, this customer who brought me this also said that he could bring many more 55gal barrels of this stuff.

The only company I know is PMR in Quebec, and they buy whole cats with a minimum quantity of 1000 lbs...


Thank you


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## publius (Jul 3, 2012)

With respect, Sir Noxx. I know silver. I have done some gold but only in tiny amounts as an acquaintance experiment. When a potential client came to me and wanted to part gold from pins, I sent her to another forum member (Jack_Burton). I never took possession of the feed stock. I did not want the "you took my gold!" thing to come up.

I am only commenting on my practice and not trying to point fault. Please don't take it that way.

On that note: I am so jealous. I have been trying to get some few pounds of catalytic converter material for a year now, with no luck!


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## samuel-a (Jul 3, 2012)

Noxx, I feel the same way as publius...
Unless you have a good arrangement with a refiner/assayer and you can "prove" some sort of "chain of custody" with paper trail to your client, let him keep his material.


publius

In almost every muffler shop i know they have some cat's lying around...


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## publius (Jul 3, 2012)

samuel-a said:


> Snip...
> In almost every muffler shop i know they have some cat's lying around...


Sam, what you say is true and correct. They want $$$ for them. My son, who runs Slidewaysonline [dot] com for new people who want to start "drifting" cars can't even get one for me!


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## samuel-a (Jul 3, 2012)

publius said:


> Sam, what you say is true and correct. They want $$$ for them. My son, who runs Slidewaysonline [dot] com for new people who want to start "drifting" cars can't even get one for me!



oh... i thought you are talking about buying one or two just to try the recovery process.


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## skippy (Jul 3, 2012)

You might consider taking a representative sample and then see what colour the solution goes when you add some HCl + H2O2 to the ceramic. Use 10:1 Concentrated HCl : 30% hydrogen peroxide. You'll get a color change quickly and with no external heat. If it turns orange or red or brown you've likely got something worth buying. If you get yellow or green, probably not. 
Mind the dangers of poisonous dissolved PGMs. chlorine gas, concentrated acid etc etc.


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## EDI Refining (Jul 4, 2012)

Noxx said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> One customer brought me approx. $800 worth of cats. What should I do with this ?
> 
> ...



PMR buys loose honeycomb, they have a ball mill on site. I'm assuming you have approx 100 lbs of catalyst, if you double that, I'm sure they will accept the material.

Good luck


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## chanjav08 (Jul 4, 2012)

They should be seasoned lightly with butter, garlic, some shallots, then served as tacos, especially at a street vendor's cart in Juarez. Tequila is optional.


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## Palladium (Jul 4, 2012)

:arrow:


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## chanjav08 (Jul 4, 2012)

I'm not really a cat person but I'm pretty sure that's a "I am not amused." expression. :lol:


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## Noxx (Jul 4, 2012)

Lol, I should have said; not the animal...


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## Noxx (Jul 4, 2012)

But seriously, I did not pay for the material yet. I think it's worth $700-$800 because I have a breakdown of what's included.

I did a test batch yesterday and have positive results. I think I can extract the PGMs cheaply using the HCl-Cl method.

My solution is now orange and a stannous test shows a deep red/brown color.

I think that I'll just recover the values this way, cement with copper or steel and sell the salts.


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## nickvc (Jul 5, 2012)

In all honesty I wouldn't bother with any large quantities as the big boys with their arc furnaces can recover much more than any wet process can, the problem is you can't recover all the pregnant solution. If this is as you stated a sample and your customer has big volumes I'd run this batch as you are to see how your recovery compares to the assay and then compare that result to what the big buyers pay percentage wise, I'm fairly certain that the mill, sample and trade route will look much more attractive in both terms of return and effort. I'd also be tempted to talk to Lou and seek his advice as he really is the man where PGMs are concerned IMHO.


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## Oz (Jul 5, 2012)

Noxx said:


> I think that I'll just recover the values this way, cement with copper or steel and sell the salts.


Do yourself a favor and cement PGMs on zinc turnings or cabosil free zinc powder. Zinc is a less problematic contaminate to deal with for whomever you are selling your recovery to.


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## Noxx (Jul 5, 2012)

Will do!

I got this on eBay: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/130716713876?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649


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## Oz (Jul 6, 2012)

I would still check the zinc powder for cabosil, as it is often used as an additive when shipping finely granulated zinc. Take a sample of your zinc powder and digest it in HCl then check if any solids remain. I usually use zinc turnings or drillings I get from machining sacrificial zinc boat anodes.


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## kadriver (Jul 9, 2012)

Noxx;

The zinc powder in the link you posted looks real loose.

If it is nice and smooth with no lumps, then chances are it probably has the additive cabosil.

I bought zinc powder from an Ebay vendor that comes in a jar that weighs 5 lbs.

Here is the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zinc-Metal-Powder-5Lb-3000-Mesh-LOWEST-PRICE-EBAY-/120937712896?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c28730d00

I have to crush the finely powdered zinc with a mortar and pestle before I use it to cement PGMs.

There are no additives in this zinc powder.

Plus I bought zinc turnings from Steve - his zinc metal is pure.

Hope this helps.

kadriver


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## kadriver (Jul 9, 2012)

Can zinc powder that contains cabosil be salvaged?

I bought a bag of zinc powder that looks identical, labeling and all, to the one that Noxx posted.

I still have it and never used it due to suspected cabosil additive being present.

Is there a way to rid the zinc powder of the cabosil?

Does anyone know of a process that will remove the cabosil from the zinc powder and not destroy the zinc powder in the process?

kadriver


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## jimdoc (Jul 9, 2012)

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=12366&p=129080&hilit=zinc#p129080


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## Lou (Jul 9, 2012)

Re: What to do with cats?


I'm sorry, but every time someone asks what to do with cats I just want to say:

"Give them a good home and pet them."

Aflac-approved. :mrgreen: :lol:


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## ritehere (Oct 1, 2012)

Not trying to step on any toes here about the recovery processes. But unless you average $80.00 or more of recovered (Sellable) PGM's from each individual cat. Then your best bet is to sell them on ebay.
I have had the opportunity to sell hundreds of catalytic converters on ebay, and it is in my experience that even in the low end of the resale market of these items they are brining the $80.00 each average even on a bad day.


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