• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.3-16
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• 2014

Recycling of spent autocatalyst that includes the platinum group metals (PGMs), namely palladium, platinum and rhodium, is a very profitable endeavor. In order to ensure an efficient promotion of an appropriate policy-making and the technical development of the recycling process of spent autocatalyst in Korea, the generated amount, trading conditions, and recycling technology for spent autocatalyst were surveyed. The generated amount of spent autocatalyst was estimated by analyzing the domestic statistical data of registration & disuse of automobiles and the records of autocatalyst installation to new cars. The review of the recycling technology was carried out by surveying the recycling processes of 'Heesung PMTech Ltd.', which is the largest company in the recycling industry for spent autocatalyst in Korea. In addition to the above, some policy suggestions for the improvement of recycling industries for spent autocatalyst were offered.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.36-45
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• 2011

The recovery of platinum group metals (PGMs) from the leach solution of spent auto-catalyst and the wash solution of the leach residue was investigated in the laboratory scale experiments by the cementation process using metal powders as the reductant. In this study, the effect of Al, Mg and Zn powders on the cementation process was particularly examined. Aluminum powder was selected as the most suitable reductant for the cementation of PGMs. At the cementation time of 10 minute under the aluminium stoichimetric amount of 19.3 and the reaction temperature of $50{\sim}60^{\circ}C$, the recovery of platinum group metals from the leach solution of the spent auto-catalyst was found to be 99.3%, 99.4%, 90.2% for Pt, Pd and Rh, respectively. Under the same conditions with the aluminium stoichimetric amount of 45, the recovery of platinum group metals from the wash solution of the leach residue of spent catalyst was observed to be 97%, 97% and 90% for Pt, Pd and Rh, respectively. In addition, it was possible to upgrade the platinum group metals in the precipitates obtained from the cementation process by about 10% through the removal of metal impurities by the nitric acid leaching at ambient temperature.