Title of Process/ Know-how/ Product/Design/Equipment
Palladium recovery from spent catalysts/materials
Application/Uses/Problem being addressed
Precious transition metal irons and their coordination complexes such as palladium, silver, platinum find industrial applications as supported catalysts for oxidation, hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions and performance chemicals in fine chemicals industries. Various polymeric materials modified silica, zeolite or various clay materials are used as support for these metals. It is important to recover the precious metals from the support, from ore or scrap including spent catalysts or from subsequent reaction effluent which may comprise of various remnants to the maximum extent possible once the catalyst is deactivated.
Salient Technical Features including Competing Features/ Impact
Demonstrated for one of spent catalysts of an industry that used Pd/C catalyst for hydrogenation Recovery of Pd from spent catalyst @ nearly 100% with greater than 99% purity Recovery could be possible for Pd concentration >0.1%
Developed process tolerated the presence of moisture in the range 60-80% and organics <6%, carbon support in the range 15-25%
The process for Pd recovery from used silica is demonstrated successfully at 10 kg calcined silica batch
TRL Level & Scale of Development:
Up to 1 Kg of spent catalyst
Business scope & opportunity (in terms of scale, cost, market etc.):
Palladium supported catalyst are used in many chemical reactions in the industry
Environmental Considerations:
Mild conditions were used for the recovery of palladium from spent catalyst as palladium chloride
Status of Licensing:
Licensed technologyStatus of Commercialization:
Licensed technologyNet yet put in commercial practice
Major Raw Materials Needed
Spent catalyst having palladium, mineral acid and caustic
Major Plant Equipment and Machinery Required
Furnace with vertical column facility, leaching unit, filtration set up
Techno-Economics
It depends on the palladium content in the spent catalyst.
Technology Package
Available on request and inputs from the client; Calculated based on the scale and operational process, impurities and palladium content in the spent catalyst