Articles

We all know that catalytic converters have good scrap value, primarily due to their platinum, palladium, and rhodium content, but also because of the complexity in the recycling process. The spent catalyst must go through de-canning, grinding, smelting, and a multi-stage chemical separation before the 3 precious metals can be extracted in a pure form, a process necessarily carried out by specialists who have the appropriate recycling and safety equipment. There are 3 factors that determine th ...

Those in the catalytic converter recycling business are continuously discussing and debating the financial aspects of the market - the demand for and value of new and used vehicles, the fluctuations in the price of platinum, palladium, and rhodium, the costs of the recycling process, and so on. There is, though, another important aspect of the business that should never be overlooked, and that is the environmental and ecological benefits that this industry brings, and we will be taking a look at ...

    As part of the fight against corruption, fraud, money laundering, and illegal activities (including, for example, terrorism), many countries have introduced legislation known as “Know Your Customer” (KYC). In America, for example, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed to Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements in 2014, and this became law in 2016. This outlines the steps that a business must carry out to verify the identity of customers either before or during ...

    The catalytic converter recycling process consists of a number of stages and it stands to reason that the more you do yourself the greater the profitability. De-can, mill, smelt, and extract or refine the platinum, palladium, and rhodium out of the catalyst and the full value is yours!   Of course, for the majority of catalyst suppliers, often small operations such as salvage yard owners, junkyard owners, tow truck companies, and diesel repair shops, this is not fe ...

    There will always be a discrepancy between the specified content of PGMs (Platinum Group Metals - Platinum, Palladium, and Rhodium) at the time of manufacture and the actual amount recovered after processing. It is estimated that this discrepancy is a loss of around 15% in volume and 20% in value. The higher loss in value terms is due to the costs associated with the smelting and refining processes involved in PGM recovery. These losses can be quantified in two areas: &nbs ...

    As the automotive recycling industry has grown and developed, there is an increasing amount of data being generated and studied by companies in the business, both large and small. Making sense of the data is, of course, another matter, and making it work for you is a key route to better profit. Traditionally, the market has used average value per unit of recycled auto catalysts as its main data measurement. This worked reasonably well when there was no great variation betw ...

    Our second presentation from the IPMI Auto Catalyst & Fuel Seminar came from Dr. Stewart Brown, a Principal Analyst at Johnson Matthey’s Market Research division, and it covered a look at historical demand for Platinum Group Metal (PGMs - platinum, palladium, rhodium); the impact of legislation; technology and configuration trends; the changing “powertrain” mix; palladium substitution in three-way catalysts; implications for collectors and refiners.   1. PGM De ...

    Last year was a strong year for the catalytic recycling market, although not for all Platinum Group Metals (PGM’s)…     The Volkswagen “Dieselgate” car emissions fraud scandal that came to notice in 2015, led to stricter vehicle testing procedures being introduced, together with tighter emission limits on heavy-duty vehicles. This in turn has contributed to a higher demand for converters and for PGMs. This is excellent news for palladium, and reflects t ...

    In the scrap catalytic converters, the moisture balance must be taken into consideration. We advise you to check our previous articles to understand what we are talking about. Now that you have decanned your used catalytic, the idea is to now know what is the value of your catalysts are. Basically, you will need to mill the honeycomb you got from the separation. Once the monolith is in powder form you can now perform the analysis of the sample.   Why moistu ...

In the wake of recent court cases ongoing in the USA regarding fraudulent behavior by a major recycling organization, it is more important than ever that scrap catalysts sellers know who they are working with. Assaying - the process of sampling a small proportion of a catalytic batch - has long been regarded as the most efficient and reliable method of determining the quantity and value of precious metals in the batch; it, nevertheless, assumes transparency and honesty on the part of the recycle ...