Platinagruppe-metaller (PGM) er seks elementer som har veldig like kjemiske egenskaper og består av: platina (Pt), palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), iridium (Ir), Ruthenium (Rh) og osmium (Os). Uttakbare gruveforekomster er veldig sjeldne og finnes få plasser på verdensbasis. Sør-Afrika dominerer primærproduksjon av PGM med 58% og Russland står for 26%, hvor det meste er som biprodukt fra nikkelårer. Likevel er behovet for disse metallene økende i verden, mest på grunn av stort forbruk som katalysatorer for avgassrensing fra biler.
K.A. Rasmussen AS (KAR) har den senere tiden opplevd en økning i henvendelser som gjelder gjenvinning og raffinering av iridium og ruthenium. KAR har med dette prosjektet ønsket å undersøke flere innovative metoder for å raffinere disse elementene effektivt og bærekraftig.
Prosjektet har sett på ulike metoder for kjemisk oppløsing av særlig Ir og Ru, som er to elementer med veldig høy kjemisk stabilitet. Det er utføret forsøk som ser på alternative prosesser til dagens "Best practice". Prosjektet har hatt en stor grad av kompetansebyggende resulateter for hele teamet, elementene fra spesielt den ene teknologien har visst industriell potensiale og blir videreutviklet.
The project has achieved in increasing the competence in the field of recovery of precious metals from secondary resources, especially Ir and Ru being less studied. The need for advanced characterizazion of the various waste samples is one of the clear outputs of the project. One of the innovative technologies studied has shown promising results and is under further investigations for a possible commercializazion process.
Platinum group metals (PGM) are six chemically very similar elements: i.e. platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), iridium (Ir) Ruthenium (Ru) and Osmium (Os). Mineable deposits are very rare and found in relatively few areas of the world. South Africa dominates the PGM world production with 58%, Russia accounts for a further 26%, most of this as a co-product of nickel mining. Moreover, the world demand is steadily increasing mostly due to the high loads of PGM currently used in automobile catalysts, thus complying with the increasingly restrictive emissions legislation.
To decouple Norway and Europe from unstable suppliers, secondary material streams must be fostered. Moreover, the recovery of these valuable elements from by-products and waste streams is in good harmony with the goals of the Circular Economy towards zero-waste societies.
K.A. Rasmussen (KAR) has recently seen an increase in inquiries for producing products consisting of iridium and ruthenium, as well as capturing and producing pure quality metals of these elements. KAR does today lack the knowledge needed to efficiently digest/dissolve these elements, which is a necessity to deliver the desired service to the market.
However, efficient and selective extraction of PGM, as especially of Ir and Ru from different matrices (ores or wastes) is challenging, mainly due to their chemical properties (inertness). These elements also have a tendency to form oxides when exposed for traditional methods of extraction, thus preventing from their effective recovery and the subsequent efficiency loss in the process.
The project will focus on the investigation of innovative methods that may circumvent this problem, thus achieving good extraction efficiencies, without penalizing the purity of the recovered material and/or environmental footprint of the extraction process. Moreover, the project will bring more knowledge to a field where there are large uncertainties regarding best practice and efficiencies.
