2014-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS 2014 Volume 6: Rare Earths & Ionic Liquids
| Editors: | Kongoli F |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2014 |
| Pages: | 432 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-987820-08-9 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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The environmental impact of plasma-based smelting of spent catalysts for precious metal recovery
Saeed Ismail1; David Deegan1; Tim Johnson1;1TETRONICS INTERNATIONAL, Swindon, SN3 4DE, United Kingdom (Great Britain);
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 46
Topic: 9
Abstract:
The recycling and recovery of Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) provide a vital source of metal supply, accounting for around 25% of all PGM supply in 2012. Its increasing importance over recent years is illustrated by a c.80% growth in recycled supply of PGM compared to a 17% fall in primary production between 2005 and 2012.
Part of this upward trend in recycling has been a result of an increase in the adoption of Tetronics DC plasma arc PGM recovery technology, which delivers industry-leading technical recovery rates for a wide range of PGMs recovered from spent automotive and industrial catalysts at both a pilot and full commercial scale. In common with many other metals, recycling of PGMs not only leads to greater re-use of these critical metals with production of the metals closer to the ultimate end-use, but it also has excellent environmental credentials in terms of the consumption of energy/materials and the generation of secondary waste streams when compared to typical primary production routes.
This paper presents the latest developments of Tetronics plasma-based PGM recovery technology with a particular emphasis on its environmental performance, including the consumption of electricity, water and gases, emissions to air and residual wastes. This performance will be compared to the typical environmental impact of the primary production of platinum and other precious metals as reported in the open literature along with the implications for production costs and other plant requirements. The paper will also assess the benefits of this technology for the recovery of precious metals from other rapidly-growing waste streams, such as electronic wastes and ore-concentrates.