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Enrichment of Platinum Group Metals from Spent Automotive Catalyst Leaching Residue by a Combined Smelting and Wet Extraction Method

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Abstract

Spent automotive catalysts consist of platinum group metals (PGMs) in their leaching residue (LR) after wet extraction and are the leading secondary resource of PGMs. Herein, PGMs were captured from the LR of spent automotive catalysts by NiSO4 smelting, followed by treatment with sulfuric acid to enrich PGMs from the trap. The effects of the trap, fluxing agent, and slagging agent dosage on the recovery of PGMs were systematically investigated to determine the optimum smelting conditions. The capture efficiency was 90.13, 91.02, and 90.54% for Pt, Pd, and Rh, respectively, under the following conditions: NiSO4/LR mass ratio of 3.6, SiO2/LR mass ratio of 2.0, CaCO3/LR mass ratio of 1.0, Na2CO3/LR mass ratio of 0.3, Na2B4O7⋅10H2O/LR mass ratio of 0.3, CaF2/LR mass ratio of 0.3, and C/LR mass ratio of 0.4 at 1400 °C for 2 h. During the acid leaching enrichment process, the content of PGMs in the enrichment slag was 8.66 times compared with that of the raw materials under the conditions of 14.24 mol/L H2SO4, liquid–solid ratio of 5:1, 400 rpm, and temperature of 90 °C for 2 h. The method of combined smelting and wet extraction provides a referential value for the enrichment of PGMs from secondary resources.

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Abbreviations

PGMs:

Platinum group metals

LR:

Leaching residue

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Acknowledgements

The authors greatly acknowledge the financial support from the Reserve Talent Program for Young and Middle-aged Academic and Technical Leaders in Yunnan Province (201905C160070) and the National Key Research and Development Program—“Science and Technology for Economy 2020” Key Special Project (SQ2020YFF0404678).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Resources Engineering, Honghe University, Mengzi, 661199, China

    Yan Jiang, Xingxiang Fan, Yunlong He, Lida Sun & Na Wu

  2. International Joint Laboratory of Southeast Asia Rare and Precious Metal New Materials of Yunnan Province, Mengzi, 661199, China

    Yan Jiang, Xingxiang Fan, Yunlong He, Lida Sun & Na Wu

  3. Engineering Research Center for Clean Extraction and High Value of Waste Precious Metal Catalysts of Yunnan Province Higher Education Institutions, Mengzi, 661199, China

    Yan Jiang, Xingxiang Fan, Yunlong He, Lida Sun & Na Wu

  4. China Renewable Resources Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance “Joint Innovation Laboratory for Recycling Waste Precious Metals Catalyst”, Mengzi, 661199, China

    Yan Jiang, Xingxiang Fan, Yunlong He, Lida Sun & Na Wu

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  1. Yan Jiang
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Correspondence to Xingxiang Fan.

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The contributing editor for this article was Atsushi Shibayama.

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Jiang, Y., Fan, X., He, Y. et al. Enrichment of Platinum Group Metals from Spent Automotive Catalyst Leaching Residue by a Combined Smelting and Wet Extraction Method. J. Sustain. Metall. 9, 1180–1189 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-023-00702-4

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