Integral recycling of used automotive Catalysts

• Grant number: 23/12714-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Duration: May 01, 2024 - January 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Alí Francisco García Flores
• Grantee: Alí Francisco García Flores
• Host Company: Aurhora Análises Químicas Ltda
• CNAE: Extração de minério de metais preciosos
• City: São Paulo
• Associated researchers: Carlos Rettori ; Carolina Vautier Teixeira Giongo ; Daniel Rettori ; Lucia Kiyomi Noda ; Norberto Sanches Gonçalves ; Ricardo Rodrigues Urbano ; Ronaldo Savarino Levenhagen ; Roseli Kunzel ; Victor Mello Gonzalez
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/06186-3 - Integral recycling of used automotive Catalysts, BP.TT; 24/06185-7 - Integral recycling of used automotive catalysts, BP.PIPE

Abstract

Platinum Group Noble Metals (MGPs: platinum, palladium and rhodium) are present in automotive catalysts to reduce the harmful effects of burning fossil fuels and are used in the jewelry industry, in the production of green hydrogen, in the petrochemical industry, pharmaceutical industry and others. Despite being an important source of MGPs, used automotive catalysts (CAUs) are not recycled in Brazil. The material removed from automotive catalysts is exported so that foreign companies can recycle it and develop products based on MGPs, which end up being imported into Brazil with high added value. This project aims to implement a competitive and sustainable method for the national recycling of used automotive catalysts, with a view to the total recovery and reuse of their constituent metallic elements, thus generating new raw materials for the manufacture and consequent commercialization of solutions and products. Emphasis will be given to the recycling of rhodium (Rh) for the production of metallic baths sold in the jewelry market, which is already a well-established activity of Aurhora (headquarters company and proponent of this project, together with partner university institutions, UNICAMP and UNIFESP ). However, the study of the economic viability of recycling other precious metals, such as, for example, palladium (Pd) and platinum (Pt), intended for the development of new products, is also an objective of this project. Therefore, we hope that at the end of PIPE phase 1, we will have developed a national technology for the extraction of rhodium from automotive catalysts, as well as analyzed the economic and market feasibility of extracting other metals that are of strategic importance for the development of the industry in the state of Sao Paulo and Brazil. (AU)