Precious Metals in Exhaust Catalysts
Automotive catalytic converters contain the precious metals Platinum, Rhodium and Palladium. The exact amount of these elements is important for the recycling industry to determine scrap values.
XRF Precious Metal Analysis for Automotive Catalysts
In comparison to analysis using traditional chemical methods, measurement of these three elements can be performed more quickly and accurately with the FISCHERSCOPEยฎ X-RAY XDVยฎ-SDD equipment.
To get the best measuring results the catalyst structures are first milled and pressed into pellets. The FISCHERSCOPEยฎ X-RAY XDVยฎ-SDD has a programmable measuring stage, which makes it easy to analyse a large number of samples (pellets) automatically.
The powerful WinFTMยฎ analysis software provides accurate measurements of all three precious metals by their components.
Recycling of Catalytic Converters
The European Directive on End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV 2000/53/EC) has the real effect that a huge number of different automotive catalytic converters are now recycled. The value of these used catalytic converters depends on the amount of precious metals they contain, making it important for the recycling industry to be able to determine precisely the content of Platinum, Rhodium and Palladium.
Comparison of Measurement Results: XRF Analysis and Chemical Analysis of Platinum, Rhodium and Palladium
| Platinum | Palladium | Rhodium | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | ICP-OES | XDV-SDD | ICP-OES | XDV-SDD | ICP-OES | XDV-SDD |
| A2 | 1065 | 1055 | 861 | 871 | 236 | 243 |
| A3 | 1004 | 995 | 785 | 774 | 201 | 186 |
| A4 | 770 | 741 | 1335 | 1315 | 125 | 100 |
| A5 | 856 | 880 | 850 | 856 | 194 | 181 |
| A6 | 1158 | 1142 | 806 | 815 | 180 | 177 |
| A7 | 1071 | 1089 | 729 | 756 | 185 | 186 |
| A8 | 1060 | 1057 | 761 | 747 | 189 | 189 |
| A9 | 3112 | 3200 | 2830 | 2789 | 716 | 700 |
| A10 | 975 | 996 | 887 | 884 | 177 | 172 |
Your Measuring Instrument for the XRF Analysis of Precious Metal Content in Catalysts
With its silicon drift detector (SDD), the programmable measuring stage and the powerful analysis software, WinFTMยฎ, the FISCHERSCOPEยฎ X-RAY XDVยฎ-SDD is perfectly suited for the efficient, precise and convenient measurement of precious metal content in catalytic converters. For further info contact your local Fischer partner.