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lazersteve

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Here's an excellent study on the recovery of PGMs from cats. They quantitatively test various dissolutions and sodium peroxide fusion. Everything is summed up in nice tables listing the different types of cats and the associated yields for each type of process. Lots of data including yields.

Check it out.

Cat Contents

Take the time to study this one and you'll learn a lot.

Steve
 
Excellent article Steve, thanks.

Here's a link to an in depth description of the ICP-MS process.

http://tinyurl.com/32bysq

....and according to that article you posted Steve, the Alkali Fusion sampling method returned the best results. Here's a link to a small table top machine that makes a wonderful addition to an ICP-MS for the Alkali Fusion process.

http://tinyurl.com/2jkmnh

It would be nice if Inco Ltd. would allow us to use their lab lol
 
Did I understand correctly on pages 25-26, that cupelling with lead will not grab the rh ?
Is he saying to first cupel material with nickel sulfide and then cupel the slag with lead and add the two together?
 
markqf1 said:
Did I understand correctly on pages 25-26, that cupelling with lead will not grab the rh ?
Is he saying to first cupel material with nickel sulfide and then cupel the slag with lead and add the two together?

Gold is the best Rh collector. Silver won't work as a collector of Rh.

Using Lead for anything is a bad idea. It has a high vapor pressure and no matter how careful you are, some will evaporate.
 
since gold is the best RH collector is there another metal less costly that will work well to collect?equal to or better than silver? and thanks Irons for your expierence and insight.

-Rich
 
loco said:
since gold is the best RH collector is there another metal less costly that will work well to collect?equal to or better than silver? and thanks Irons for your expierence and insight.

-Rich

Fortunately, because Gold doesn't oxidize when molten, it doesn't develop an oxide film to prevent the minute particles of Rhodium from bonding and becoming alloyed with the Gold.

It's not that big of a deal to use Gold as a scavenger for Rh since, with good lab technique, all of it will be recovered for reuse. The Gold Rhodium alloy is inquarted with Silver and treated like any scrap gold. The precipitated Gold powder that is the end product can be remixed with another batch of Rh concentrate and cycled again. The Rh powder remains as residue when the Gold sponge is digested.

This is one reason why Rhodium is so expensive. It's a very labor intensive process.
 
I read that the 04 navigator has a resell value of something like $750 because of the PGM content. Is that just the 04 model or is that all years since the 04 model or does anyone know?
 
Irons,
You are a man of much chemistry knowledge and I am not.
You're comments didn't really answer my question about capturing the rh
in the cupel of a fire assay.
As I have one ordered for my material, I want to make sure the rh content is included.
I know your thoughts on lead... and there pretty much the same as mine.
How should I tell them to fire assay my material to insure that the rh is captured?
Also, I thought the collector was consumed in the cupel....?
 
markqf1 said:
Irons,
You are a man of much chemistry knowledge and I am not.
You're comments didn't really answer my question about capturing the rh
in the cupel of a fire assay.
As I have one ordered for my material, I want to make sure the rh content is included.
I know your thoughts on lead... and there pretty much the same as mine.
How should I tell them to fire assay my material to insure that the rh is captured?
Also, I thought the collector was consumed in the cupel....?

Lead reacts chemically with the cupel and is absorbed. Gold does not.

Fire assay is an art as well as a sciencel and Rhodium is about the toughest precious metal to assay accurately. It's not something you can do in your garage in a weekend. I'm not trying to discourage you but just trying to explain the reality of the situation.

I know enough to know that I don't have the equipment or the skills to do a Rhodium assay on my own. I would recommend you send your material to a reputable firm such as Ledoux and let them worry about the technique.

http://www.ledoux.com/lab.html
 
Thx Irons,
When I said I had ordered one for my material.... what I meant to say is I have sent off a sample for assay by action mining.
I just want to make sure that they are using a collector that will capture the rh as well as the pt and pd.
Yea, I'm a long way from trying it at home!

Mark
 
markqf1 said:
Thx Irons,
When I said I had ordered one for my material.... what I meant to say is I have sent off a sample for assay by action mining.
I just want to make sure that they are using a collector that will capture the rh as well as the pt and pd.
Yea, I'm a long way from trying it at home!

Mark

The price you get for the PGMs is dependent on the quality and reliability of the assay.

It's like going to court. You can get a good attorney to represent you, or you can do it on the cheap.
it would be interesting to get assays of a given material from different assayers and compare the results. Unfortunately, it would be very expensive.

If I were going to sell a substantial quantity of metal, I would use Ledoux as an umpire, that way, both I and the refiner could negotiate from an assay of known reliability and quality.

Read my sig. :)
 
I agree with Irons. We used to use Ledoux when we took tonage lots of circuit boards to ASARCO in East Helena, Montana. Ledoux even had a permanent office in the ASARCO facility. They witnessed the process, took samples, assayed the samples, and umpired the lots. Expensive, but the yields were always excellent.
 
Hi I am looking for some help on recovering the pgm from cats i have heard of roasting the cataylatic converter but when i called shore they told me to make aqua regia and heat it and put the honey comb in it would this be the best way or should i do it a diffrent way? Any help would be appreciated :D
 
AR works for cats, but you need a lot of AR as compared to the amount of PGMs you will be dissolving.

I use HCl-Cl plus heat. It's cheaper than AR and works just as well. As an added advantage you don't have to boil off the nitric when you are done. Remember add the clorox in very small does and give it plenty of time to work.

A single honeycomb will fit in a regular coffee pot placed with the holes up. Cover it with HCl and add 1/8 cup of clorox and begin heating. Every thirty minutes add another 1/8 cup of clorox. Heat to 60C-100C.

Pour the clorox down into the holes of the honeycomb so the chlorine boils thru the structure.

Heat for two to three hours using this process adding clorox every half hour. The liquid level should never go below the top of the honeycomb.

Rinse the liquid out with several washes of water and precipitate as normal for PGMs.

A second treatment may yield more PGMs.

Do this in a well ventilated area.

Steve
 
Steve, would you then Precipitate the PGM's with zinc or iron and if so would the precipitation be done quite quick or do you leave you dropping agent in the solution for a while?

one last question what would be your yeilds on dried PGM precipitate from the above method in the coffee pot?

I do uderstand that it can very by alot depending on what the cat is off of but just curious, you know how it is :)

thanks in advance
 
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