The Hidden Costs of Carbon Contamination in Precious Metal Catalysts

The precious metals (PM) recycling industry faces a significant challenge: the high percentage of carbon in alumina and silica-alumina catalysts sent for reclamation. This issue, exacerbated by extended process run times and challenging feedstocks, leads to costly delays and impacts both catalyst owners and PM reclaimers. While in-situ pre-burn appears cost-effective initially, the delayed return of precious metals due to extensive kilning significantly outweighs these initial savings. Furthermore, the high demand for platinum group metals (PGM) like palladium and rhodium, coupled with the increasing complexity of automotive catalyst recycling, further compounds the problem. The hoarding of autocatalysts and the need for specialized processing for new materials like silicon carbide and tungsten contribute to the bottleneck and the loss of valuable PGM ounces from the market. The industry needs to prioritize clean, low-carbon feedstocks and develop more efficient recycling processes to address this critical issue.