kurtak
Well-known member
I can get a busted car for 500, is there enough PM in the cat? Is there a place I can legally buy catalytic converters for processing?
Per the bold print - NO - there is absolutely NO WAY you can process CATs & make a profit - especially if you intend to leach the CATs --- the ONLY possible hope in processing CATs with a HOPE in making a profit is to smelt them - & even then - to do so at a profit is going require a MAJOR investment in the equipment need for smelting - on a scale that is profitable
Here is a thread I posted about 10 years ago about an attempt to process CATs on a "for profit" larger scale
https://goldrefiningforum.com/threads/large-volume-vs-small-volume-cat-processing.20573/#post-211200
You will note that in the first post of this thread that this was a "joint venture" with one of scrap yards I did business with --- we set up a complete lab in a 3,000 square foot building & because it was a real business we had all the required permitting --- it took about 4&1/2 month just to set up the lab which included 3 large commercial fume hoods with large capacity fume scrubber - reaction vessels - waste management/treatment etc. etc. --- after about 4&1/2 months (plus the 4 & 1/2 months to set up) of working (focusing) on the CATs - & about $100,000 - $120,000 invested we soon figured out you can not process CATs - at a profit - unless you want to invest about another million $$$ - just to get started --- & then that would be in smelting NOT leaching (both of which we did)
So after about 9 month of working with the CATs we abandoned the CATs & moved on to processing other PM scrap including (but not limited to) circuit boards of which the VAST MAJORITY we took in from the public simply got shipped out to larger buyer/processors - processing ONLY the VERY HIGHEST grade stuff in house
In other word - you CAN NOT make a profit trying to process run of the mill consumer circuit broads (E-waste) --- the ONLY way to profit with actually processing of E-waste is to process ONLY the VERY HIGHEST grade stuff - which DOES NOT come out of consumer grade electronics - & even with the very high grade stuff you need A LOT of it to profit in the processing
Don't get me wrong - you can profit processing consumer grade stuff - BUT - you will need to invest at least one million $$$ - just to get started !!!
Believe me - with consumer grade E-waste - you are FAR better served to simply take the stuff in (collect) & then send it off to the BIG BOYS - AND - even then for it to be profitable you have to handle it by the ton(s)
That is what I did (as described in the last couple post)
To put it in perspective - when I first started out I had absolutely NOTHING - I was dead broke (went bankrupt & lost everything in the 2008 housing collapse) so started scrapping ANYTHING I could get my hands on - 10 years later - when I decided to retire from this I was handling E-waste by the ton(s) per month with the VAST MAJORITY going to the BIG BOYS & processing ONLY the VERY HIGHEST grade stuff
It takes A LOT of hard work & A LOT of dedication - & trust me - I did not get rich but did make a fair living
Kurt