Exahust Catalyst recycling for PGE

[lazersteve]

Before filtering through the plug how much black powder sediment was in the bottom of the soluiton and what color was the solution?

How long did the black powder settle before you filtered?

Steve

 

[kjavanb123]

The same amount u see in the filter, and the color of solution was pale green, that is when I filtered it. in your video you mentioned black particles are the PGM and the zinc is gray color. If there is no PGM in solution could they be the zinc particles?

Thanks
Kev

 

[lazersteve]

Spray the black powder off of the filter plug into a small beaker and treat the powder with a very small amount of AR (4 mL HCl + 1 mL HNO3 70%).

The powder should dissolve and the solution should change to a red-brown or yellow color. Test the solution with a cotton swab and your stannous.

The colors for positive tests are shown in the link below (signature line).

If your original leach did not get hot enough (40- 60C) on a daily basis, you may not have extracted any PGMs only carbon.

Steve

 

[kjavanb123]

Steve,

will do this tommorow, but can I use the industrial nitric acid 55% HNo3 instead of the 70%?

Thanks
Kev

 

[lazersteve]

Steve,

will do this tommorow, but can I use the industrial nitric acid 55% HNo3 instead of the 70%?

Thanks
Kev

No problem.

 

[kjavanb123]

All,

I just bought 3 cats medium size from French made car, Pegout 206. I am gonna run them through Steve DVD. Keep you all updated about progress.

 

[kjavanb123]

Hi Steve,

One of the cat I purchased had some oil + dirt on them, so without cleaning it I just poured the HCL + Chlorox on it, should i remove it and clean it now? how is that gonna effect dissolving PGM?

Thanks
Kev

 

[lazersteve]

Hi Steve,

One of the cat I purchased had some oil + dirt on them, so without cleaning it I just poured the HCL + Chlorox on it, should i remove it and clean it now? how is that gonna effect dissolving PGM?

Thanks
Kev

Now that you have wet the comb with acid I would say go forward. If you get really dirty ones, a gentle spray wash with hot water is not a bad idea. It will save you a lot of filtering time. Heat will also destroy carbon, but it runs a good chance of putting your Palladium up in smoke with the soot.

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Steve,

One of the cat I purchased had some oil + dirt on them, so without cleaning it I just poured the HCL + Chlorox on it, should i remove it and clean it now? how is that gonna effect dissolving PGM?

Thanks
Kev

Now that you have wet the comb with acid I would say go forward. If you get really dirty ones, a gentle spray wash with hot water is not a bad idea. It will save you a lot of filtering time. Heat will also destroy carbon, but it runs a good chance of putting your Palladium up in smoke with the soot.

Steve

Steve have you tested the wire mesh that is wrapped around the catalytic biscuit to see what metals are in it. It's non magnetic but does not show the usual discoloring that stainless steel would exhibit after being subjected to the high temperatures that would occur inside the cat - curious.

 

[lazersteve]

Gill,

I have not tested the other parts of the cat. I assume they are just for heat dissipation or to allow for expansion and contraction of the cat when hot and cold.

Steve

 

[kjavanb123]

Steve,

it has been 4days since i wet the combs, and have been adding 200cc chlorox everday specially from the bottom of the bucket. Today i checked and i see a white powder on top of one of the comb which i removed to let the solution penetrate the comb structure. Also tested with stannous and the yellow color didn't change. is it too soon to see the result from stannous test? I am planning to wait for 10 days as your DVD instruction.

Thanks
Kev

 

[lazersteve]

What is the average temperature of the reaction? Heat is a vital component of the success of the leech.

The crystals are likely salt (sodium chloride) from your description of them and are a sign you are adding way too much Clorox. Adding 30 mL twice a day is enough. If the crystals are large and transparent they may be chlorine hydrate.

Have you tested your stannous on a control standard solution to confirm it is reactive? Stannous does not age well and should never be used until it is confirmed 100% reactive. Standard solutions are the only way to be sure your stannous is good.

Steve

 

[goldenchild]

Steve's video on the platinum group arrived this morning, wow talk about easy to follow instructions that even I can follow, job well done Steve.

It's been said before and I'll say it again, anyone contemplating getting into cats should first preview this Platinum DVD, it gives you a total understanding of the process's involved. The DVD is well worth the money.

Best Regards
Gill AKA Gustavus

This is a perfect thread to plug this. I too recently got the Pt DVD from Steve. Watched it and its excellent :!: I just watched and learned. I have tried a few variations of the processes in the DVD with success. Thats why its called "Fundamentals of Platinum and Palladium". Learn the basics and try what works for you. If you already know how to process gold fairly well then this Pt DVD should come quickly.

Anyway my first job was 8 O2 sensors which I got .3 grams of Pt. In my opinion they are much easier to process than combs and beads. Just wanted to put this in here so that people are aware of another source of PGMs and promote Steve's fantastic DVD.

 

[kjavanb123]

What is the average temperature of the reaction? Heat is a vital component of the success of the leech.

The crystals are likely salt (sodium chloride) from your description of them and are a sign you are adding way too much Clorox. Adding 30 mL twice a day is enough. If the crystals are large and transparent they may be chlorine hydrate.

Have you tested your stannous on a control standard solution to confirm it is reactive? Stannous does not age well and should never be used until it is confirmed 100% reactive. Standard solutions are the only way to be sure your stannous is good.

Steve

Steve,

I go easy on chlorox, and the stannous i tested it, i test it first with AR + Au solution and it worked fine, but it doesn't change color for the hcl-cl leech. i read if it clears the yellow color it means no pgm, what does no color change mean?

 

[lazersteve]

No color change may simply mean the solution is devoid of precious metals. If the color changes to orange and then clears it may mean that your solution has excess oxidizers and the test result is being obscured by the oxidizers. To be sure the excess chlorineis not the problem, place a sample in a test tube, give it a brief boil, then test it.

Steve

 

[goldenchild]

Steve,

I go easy on chlorox, and the stannous i tested it, i test it first with AR + Au solution and it worked fine, but it doesn't change color for the hcl-cl leech. i read if it clears the yellow color it means no pgm, what does no color change mean?

This happened to me too. I leached some combs and it came up negative for PGMS. Whatever you do DONT throw away your solution though! Although the stannous tested negative for PGMs I wasnt satisfied with the results. So what I did, which is similar to what Steve suggested, is put a small amount into a test tube not boiling it but simply putting a piece of zinc in it. Almost immediatly PGMs started cementing off of the zinc turning. Just make sure all the clorox is boiled off before trying this. Truthfully you should do this with all your materials. With cat beads I take about 50 grams and boil with AR and test with stannous. Combs, break off a small peice and leach and test. This way you save time and chemicals if the materials dont contain PGMs. By the way you can get pure zinc turnings for cheap on Steve's site.

 

[kjavanb123]

Steve,

You are genious. Thanks for all these tips. I am still processing the 3 French made honeycombs, but is this something that can I do with 100 combs? or the process for large quantity is different?

Thanks
Kev

 

[lazersteve]

Steve,

You are genious. Thanks for all these tips. I am still processing the 3 French made honeycombs, but is this something that can I do with 100 combs? or the process for large quantity is different?

Thanks
Kev

The process works regardless of scale. I would change a few things for scaling up:

1. I would bubble chlorine gas using a pump through the HCl instead of using liquid bleach. This would help keep the volume of the solutions to a minimum.

2. Each step would be done in a continuous process so that the hardware (barrels instead of buckets) could remain set up all the time. The liquid would simply be pumped / siphoned and filtered, through the system as each stage is completed. Fresh combs and HCl would be added to the extraction tank as the old ones become depleted of PGMs.

3. Temperature would be regulated with barrel/bucket heaters to an constant 60C to speed the process.

4. I may look into a different method to precipitate the mixed PGMs for the pregnant leach. This could save a lot of money on zinc.

These are just a few of the obvious changes.

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

One is a foil or metal type and weighs a ton, how do the foils come out for PM's, the other comb is ceramic and weighs about a third of the other.

How do we process the metal catalyst, are they worth the bother.

 

[skippy]

Gill, I recall reading that the foil converters are more efficient in their use of the PGMs. So on average they probably will have less than a ceramic converter.