Precious metals are the most recycled elements on earth. Their value makes it worthwhile to recycle instead of extracting each time. This is not only desirable but also necessary for sustainability. Moreover, this offers significant profits for industries demanding their usage in bulk. The common source for recycling is spent catalysts and industrial scraps. Many chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and petrochemical processes use such catalysts.
These substances bear precious metals like platinum, rhodium, palladium, gold, silver, etc. After repeated usage, they become deactivated. Hence, refineries use them to extract precious metals for reusability. As the process for the same is complicated, various measures get applied for metals management. This ensures the steps get carried smoothly with minimal loss and reduced cost.
They also streamline the procedure to fabricate new products. Here are the elements involved in management:
Program efficiency
Recycling precious metals is a valuable service. It goes through various stages, and the projects involve long development cycles and high-performance requirements. Hence, refinery companies use advanced technology to get high-yielding and produce entire precious metal contents. Such continuously evolving technologies ensure perfection in delivery with reduced wastes. Also, they use in-house laboratories to perform tests on the acquired samples.
Full-cycle management
Management is a continuous process. It gets carried from the beginning until the end of the precious metal recovery process. This is to note the costs, risk factors, wastage, etc., incurred at each stage. Doing so keeps these aspects in check to maintain efficiency. Besides, they pertain to services other than recycling. Refineries also focus on outright buy and sell orders, working of limit orders, forward pricing, and financing precious metals.
Resource tracking
The sourced material travels through various points during the recycling procedure. It first gets collected from you as a sample. This gets weighed, sorted, and assembled in lots. After which, the procured samples get stored in a safe location until needed. When taken out to recycle, they again go through multiple exchanges. Refinery companies maintain a record for tracking not to lose track of their movement and jeopardise the purity.
Processing methods
The recovery involves the usage of pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical processes. Refineries use them based on resource availability, technology and budget. But a series of hydrometallurgical processes assist in obtaining over 99.95% purity, meeting international standards.
They then get used to producing nitro chemical and engineered products like gauze, spinneret, stirrer, jewellery alloys, contact materials, and others. You also get precious metal content in electrical circuits if you buy electrical contacts.
Quality maintenance
For effective management, quality assurance is of utmost importance. Hence, refineries follow specific guidelines while sorting samples and handling them. They also ensure a limited loss of precious metal content during transit and other operations. Also, a series of analytical tests like fire assays, gravimetric analysis, titration, ICP spectrometry, etc., get performed. They help in the extraction of the maximum value.
