Platinum Palladium Rhodium Refining Equipment
— Turnkey Platinum Palladium Rhodium Refining Equipment
A Platinum Palladium Rhodium Refining Equipment set is a turnkey wet-chemistry PGM refinery that dissolves, separates and purifies platinum, palladium and rhodium out of spent catalysts, catalytic converters, jewellery sweeps, e-waste fractions and refinery residues, and delivers them as individual, saleable metals at Pt ≥ 99.95%, Pd ≥ 99.95% and Rh ≥ 99.90%. Feed is attacked in aqua regia, or in hydrochloric acid with chlorine as the oxidant, inside enclosed glass-lined, titanium or PP reactors; silver is stripped out with sodium chloride and gold with anhydrous sodium sulfite; platinum is then precipitated as ammonium chloroplatinate and palladium as ammonium chloropalladate, while rhodium is separated through ammonium sulfite complexation and ligand substitution — the only route that reliably splits rhodium from iridium. Direct PGM recovery reaches up to 99% on suitable feed from about 5% PGM content upward.
Product Overview
The Platinum Palladium Rhodium Refining Equipment line is the PGM-only branch of a precious-metal refinery — the train that takes a platinum-group concentrate or crude metal and turns it into three separate, assay-certified metals. Platinum, palladium and rhodium sit at the centre of automotive emission control, petrochemical and fine-chemical catalysis, glass and optical fibre production, jewellery, dentistry, electronics and the emerging hydrogen economy. Because primary PGM supply is concentrated in a handful of geological provinces, an increasing share of the world’s Pt, Pd and Rh now comes out of secondary material: three-way catalytic converters, palladium-on-carbon and Pt reforming catalysts, rhodium hydroformylation catalysts, workshop sweeps, thermocouple wire, crucibles and spent plating solutions. That secondary material is exactly what this equipment is engineered for.
PGM chemistry is what makes the equipment necessary rather than optional. Platinum and palladium go into solution comparatively easily in chloride media; rhodium, iridium and ruthenium do not. Rhodium’s aqua-chloride complexes are kinetically inert and its higher oxidation states are difficult to reach, so a direct aqua regia or chlorination attack leaves a fraction of the rhodium undissolved. Palladium can oxidise to palladium oxide, which is insoluble in both acid and alkali and therefore dissolves very poorly on a straight aqua regia route. A properly designed PGM line therefore always opens with pretreatment — acid washing to strip base metals, and conditioning of the refractory fraction (roasting, oxidation or oxidising fusion) — because the dissolution rate set at this stage is what the final recovery figure is built on.
The separation chain follows the classic chloride solution route and is where the metals are won or lost. In chloride media silver reports as low-solubility silver chloride and is filtered off. Ammonium chloride is then added to precipitate crude ammonium chloroplatinate, which is redissolved and re-precipitated — or purified by oxidative hydrolysis — until the platinum salt is clean, at which point it is calcined and hydrogen-reduced to sponge platinum. The gold-barren filtrate is reduced with anhydrous sodium sulfite to gold powder, and the palladium that follows is precipitated as ammonium chloropalladate, purified through complexation–dissolution–acidification cycles and reduced with hydrazine hydrate, formic acid or hydrogen to palladium powder. Rhodium is the hard one: the sodium chlororhodate solution is adjusted in acidity and treated with ammonium sulfite so that rhodium precipitates as an ammonium trisulfite complex while iridium stays in solution — a ligand-substitution separation, not a simple precipitation — and the rhodium salt is then converted to ammonium chlororhodate and reduced with hydrogen to rhodium metal powder. Where the separation chemistry alone cannot reach the target grade, solvent extraction and ion exchange (TBP, DBC, amine extractants and resin or molecular-recognition columns, on mixer-settler banks or centrifugal extractors) are inserted to split and polish individual metal streams.
The gas circuit is not an accessory on a PGM line; it is a design driver. PGM dissolution is the most fuming operation in the refinery, and the off-gas carries acid mist, chlorine-containing vapour and a very high nitrogen-oxide load. The reactors are fitted with sealed mouths and a sealed reaction hood, the vapour passes through a cold-water circulation condenser and a gas–liquid separator so that the condensate — which carries dissolved and entrained precious metal — is returned to the reactor instead of being vented or blown out of the workshop, and the remaining NOₓ goes to a multi-stage jet-spray absorption tower with a non-oxidation tank and two-stage alkali neutralisation. The plant is sized for inlet NOₓ concentrations of the order of 30,000 mg/m³ and holds the stack below 100 mg/m³, with absorption efficiency of 99.5% or better.
The liquid side is engineered to keep metal out of the equipment and inside the batch. Solution is moved by vacuum transfer rather than pouring; filtering uses horizontal filters with a slight incline so the last of the solution can be drawn off, and filter presses and wheel filters with diaphragm pumps for slurry duty; glass elevated (high-level) storage tanks replace polypropylene vessels wherever duty allows, because glass is transparent, easy to clean and easy to inspect, so level control is visual and residual metal held up on tank walls is minimised. Every wetted part — reactor, filter, tank, piping — is selected against the actual chemistry from glass, glass-lined (enamel) steel, titanium, stainless steel and anti-ageing PP, and PP trays, graduated chemical tanks and metering pumps dose reagents within secondary containment. Casting to bars, buttons and granules is done in induction furnaces under inert gas or vacuum, and every batch is released against a Certificate of Analysis based on fire assay and ICP-OES.
The result is a compact, cyanide-free, closed-loop PGM refinery that a catalyst recycler, jewellery manufacturer, e-waste processor or precious-metal trader can own and operate on site — recovering platinum, palladium and rhodium at full metal value, with short cycle times, low in-process inventory of very high-value metal, and off-gas and effluent treated inside the same package.
Application Scenarios
Platinum palladium rhodium refining equipment is specified wherever a PGM-bearing stream has been concentrated to a dissolvable grade and the operator wants to own the final separation step instead of selling a mixed PGM concentrate at a discount.
- Automotive catalyst recyclers — refine the PGM concentrate recovered from three-way catalytic converter monoliths into three separate metals rather than a mixed Pt/Pd/Rh product. Output: Pt, Pd and Rh sponge and powder.
- Spent-catalyst reclaim plants — process palladium-on-carbon, Pt reforming, Pd hydrogenation and Rh hydroformylation catalysts back to metal. Output: Pt / Pd ≥ 99.95%, Rh ≥ 99.90%.
- Petrochemical and fine-chemical plants — refine in-house catalyst change-out and guard-bed material instead of surrendering it to a third-party refiner. Output: recovered PGM sponge and recyclable support.
- Precious-metal refineries and assay houses — add or replace a PGM separation train, with glass reactors and horizontal filtration that shorten the campaign and cut hold-up. Output: certified Pt / Pd / Rh metal.
- E-waste and PCB recyclers — refine the precious-metal alloy or concentrate produced by the front end of an e-waste line into individual PGM products. Output: Pd and Pt metal, with Au and Ag on the same site.
- Jewellery and precious-metal workshops — refine platinum and palladium alloy scrap, sweeps, polishing dust, filings and floor residues in-house and fast. Output: Pt / Pd bars and sponge.
- Glass, optical fibre and crystal producers — recover rhodium and platinum from spent bushings, stirrers, crucibles and platinum-rhodium ware. Output: Rh and Pt metal powder.
- Dental, medical and laboratory operations — recover Pt, Pd and Rh from alloy scrap, crucibles, thermocouple wire, gauze and bench residues. Output: high-purity PGM powder.
- Copper-nickel and PGM smelter operators — treat PGM-bearing anode slime, converter matte leach residue and refinery residue on site. Output: individual PGM metals plus base-metal by-products.
- Precious-metal traders and banks — convert mixed, contaminated or off-spec PGM material back to assay-certified metal with full batch traceability. Output: certified sponge and bars with assay documents.
- Hydrogen and fuel-cell supply chains — recover platinum from membrane electrode assemblies, electrolyser stack scrap and catalyst production waste. Output: Pt ≥ 99.95% sponge.
- Universities, institutes and pilot facilities — bench and pilot PGM separation trains for process development, teaching and small-batch work. Output: analytical-grade Pt, Pd and Rh.
Applicable Raw Materials
Route selection follows the assay. Platinum palladium rhodium refining equipment is fed with material that has already been concentrated — typically to a PGM content of about 5% and above, which is the practical threshold for direct separation and refining; leaner material is first upgraded by physical or pyrometallurgical pre-concentration, since that is where a PGM recovery project is won or lost economically.
- Spent automotive three-way catalysts — ceramic and metallic monoliths, and the milled honeycomb powder produced from them, carrying Pt, Pd and Rh in a cordierite, alumina or ceria-based matrix. Output: separate Pt, Pd and Rh sponge and powder.
- PGM concentrate and alloy from pre-processing — the PGM-enriched powder, alloy button or matte produced by smelting, fusion or selective leaching of catalysts and e-waste. Output: dissolved PGM chloride liquor.
- Spent palladium-on-carbon and palladium-alumina catalysts — hydrogenation and fine-chemical catalysts, wet or dry, with the carbon or alumina support routed away. Output: Pd ≥ 99.95% powder.
- Spent platinum reforming and oxidation catalysts — petrochemical reforming catalysts and Pt-alumina oxidation catalysts. Output: Pt ≥ 99.95% sponge.
- Spent rhodium process catalysts — hydroformylation and other rhodium-based homogeneous and supported catalysts, together with rhodium-containing process residue and spent ligand systems. Output: Rh ≥ 99.90% powder.
- Platinum-rhodium ware and high-temperature components — thermocouple wire, gauze, bushings, stirrers, crucibles, nozzles and refractory brick or glass-cullet waste from the glass and optical-fibre industry. Output: Rh and Pt metal powder.
- Jewellery and workshop sweeps — platinum and palladium alloy scrap, sprues, filings, polishing dust and floor sweepings, plus karat gold where the same line is used for Au. Output: Pt / Pd metal, and Au powder.
- Electronic and e-waste precious-metal fractions — PGM-bearing alloy, connector and contact scrap, MLCC and multilayer ceramic capacitor residues, and the concentrate or pregnant liquor produced by PCB processing. Output: Pd, Pt, Au and Ag metal.
- Spent plating, electrolyte and ion-exchange material — platinum and palladium plating baths, drag-out and strip solutions, spent electrolyte, and loaded ion-exchange resin or activated carbon. Output: recovered PGM metal and recyclable liquor.
- PGM anode slime, refinery residue and process liquors — copper-nickel electrorefinery slime, precious-metal refinery tail residues, PGM chloride stock solutions and stripped solvent-extraction liquors. Output: individual refined PGM metals and base-metal by-products.
Output Products
Every consignment leaves the line against a Certificate of Analysis produced by fire assay with ICP-OES confirmation, and each metal is packaged in the form its buyer wants — sponge, powder, granules or cast bar.
- Refined platinum — precipitated as ammonium chloroplatinate, purified by re-precipitation and/or oxidative hydrolysis, then calcined and hydrogen-reduced to Pt ≥ 99.95%. Output: platinum sponge, and cast bars, granules or buttons on request.
- Refined palladium — separated as ammonium chloropalladate, purified through complexation cycles and reduced with hydrazine hydrate, formic acid or hydrogen to Pd ≥ 99.95%. Output: palladium sponge and powder.
- Refined rhodium — separated by ammonium sulfite complexation and ligand substitution, converted to ammonium chlororhodate and hydrogen-reduced to Rh ≥ 99.90%. Output: rhodium metal powder and sponge.
- Iridium, ruthenium and osmium — recovered on request: iridium from the rhodium tail liquid by oxidation and coprecipitation, ruthenium by oxidative distillation as its volatile tetroxide, osmium only in a dedicated fully enclosed circuit. Output: Ir / Ru / Os powder and salts.
- PGM salts and solutions — where a buyer prefers chemical form, the purified intermediate solutions and salts (chloroplatinic acid, ammonium chloroplatinate, palladium chloride, rhodium chloride and their ammonium salts) are supplied rather than reduced to metal. Output: purified PGM salts and standardised solutions.
- Gold and silver co-products — where the feed also carries Au and Ag, silver leaves as silver chloride for its own electrolytic circuit and gold is reduced out as powder. Output: gold powder ≥ 99.99% and silver chloride / silver metal.
- Base-metal and support by-products — iron, copper, nickel and zinc removed in the acid-wash pretreatment are recovered by cementation, precipitation or electrowinning, and spent catalyst support is routed to sale or disposal. Output: base-metal salts or cathode, and decontaminated support.
- Treated off-gas and closed-loop water — scrubbed exhaust with NOₓ below 100 mg/m³ and neutralised, metal-polished water recirculated to the wash and rinse loop. Output: compliant emission and recirculated process water.
Platinum Palladium Rhodium Refining Process Flow
The line runs as a staged chloride route in which the three metals are pulled apart one at a time — silver first, then gold, then platinum, then palladium, and rhodium last — with the gas circuit and the effluent circuit running continuously in parallel with the metal chain rather than behind it.
Steps 1 — Feed Preparation and Sampling. Catalyst monoliths are crushed and the honeycomb, washcoat and metallic carrier are separated; powder, sweeps, wire and residue feed is milled and screened to a uniform particle size so that the acid attack in Steps 3 is complete rather than partial; oil, organics, plastics and loose base metal are removed where the assay requires it. Each lot is weighed and representatively sampled. Output: milled, homogeneous, assayed feed with a batch route sheet.
Steps 2 — Pretreatment and Base-Metal Removal. Feed is washed with hydrochloric or nitric acid to dissolve iron, copper, nickel, zinc and other base metals before the precious metals are attacked, and the refractory fraction is conditioned: palladium oxide and deeply alloyed rhodium, iridium and ruthenium are roasted, oxidised or subjected to an oxidising fusion so that their dissolution rate in the following stage rises instead of leaving metal in the residue. Output: base-metal-free, conditioned PGM concentrate, plus a base-metal liquor routed to recovery or neutralisation.
Steps 3 — Aqua Regia Dissolution and Off-Gas Condensation. The prepared feed is charged into a sealed, enclosed reactor — glass-lined (enamel) steel, titanium or anti-ageing PP, or a tumbling reactor held at a fixed angle for dense and sludge-like material — and dissolved in aqua regia at roughly 3:1 hydrochloric to nitric acid, or in hydrochloric acid with chlorine gas as the oxidant; in chloride media platinum, palladium and gold go into solution as chloro-complexes while silver reports as low-solubility silver chloride and stays in the residue. The reactor mouth is sealed, and the vapour passes through a cold-water circulation condenser and gas–liquid separator, with the precious-metal-bearing condensate returned to the reactor and the nitrogen oxide routed to the jet-spray tower. Reaction time is typically 3–6 hours depending on feed and particle size. Output: PGM chloride liquor carrying PtCl₆²⁻, PdCl₄²⁻ and RhCl₆³⁻, plus silver chloride and insoluble residue.
Steps 4 — Silver and Gold Removal. Sodium chloride is added to the liquor to precipitate silver as silver chloride, which is filtered off on a horizontal filter or filter press and routed to a silver circuit. Ammonium chloride is then added to precipitate crude ammonium chloroplatinate, which is transferred to platinum refining; the filtrate is reduced with anhydrous sodium sulfite to precipitate gold powder, which is filtered, washed and dried. Output: silver chloride residue, crude ammonium chloroplatinate, gold powder, and a gold-barren filtrate carrying palladium and rhodium.
Steps 5 — Platinum Precipitation and Purification. The crude ammonium chloroplatinate is redissolved and re-precipitated — the ammonium chloride repeated precipitation method — and/or purified by oxidative hydrolysis to drive out iridium, rhodium and base-metal impurities, until the salt reaches specification. The purified salt is calcined at above 800 °C to drive off nitrogen and chlorine and hydrogen-reduced, giving a metal sponge that is dried and packed. Output: platinum sponge at Pt ≥ 99.95%, or cast platinum bars and granules on request.
Steps 6 — Palladium Separation and Reduction. Palladium is precipitated from the filtrate with ammonium chloride as ammonium chloropalladate, then purified through complexation–dissolution–acidification cycles or the ammonia complexation combined process to remove the residual base metals and other PGMs. The purified compound is reduced with hydrazine hydrate, formic acid or hydrogen gas and dried to metal powder. Output: palladium sponge and powder at Pd ≥ 99.95%.
Steps 7 — Rhodium and Iridium Separation. The remaining liquor is prepared as a sodium chlororhodate solution of the order of 50 g/L rhodium and its pH is adjusted to about 1–1.5 with a dilute alkali; a 25% ammonium sulfite solution is added at a volume ratio of roughly 1:0.75, and the batch is boiled with the pH controlled near 6.4 so that rhodium precipitates as a milky-white ammonium trisulfite complex while iridium does not form a similar precipitate and stays in solution. The rhodium compound is filtered, washed with pure water, redissolved in boiling concentrated hydrochloric acid to ammonium chlororhodate and converted through ammonia coordination, then reduced with hydrogen to metal. Iridium is recovered from the tail liquid by oxidation and coprecipitation, refined and ground. Output: rhodium metal powder at Rh ≥ 99.90%, and iridium powder where required.
Steps 8 — Off-Gas Scrubbing and Effluent Treatment. Reactor off-gas passes through the condenser and mist separator, then a multi-stage jet-spray absorption tower with a gas–liquid separator and non-oxidation tank, followed by two-stage alkali neutralisation; the tower is sized for an inlet nitrogen-oxide load of the order of 30,000 mg/m³ and holds the outlet below 100 mg/m³ at 99.5% or better absorption, while condensate and scrubber liquor are returned to the process instead of being discharged. Wastewater and bleed streams are segregated, neutralised, metal-polished and recirculated, and the acid-based process liquors are reused. Output: compliant off-gas, polish water below 10 ppm metal for recirculation, and dewatered residue.
Steps 9 — Reduction, Melting and Certificate of Analysis. The purified powders and sponges are dried and reduced, then melted in induction furnaces under inert gas or vacuum and cast into bars, granules or buttons, while sponge intended for catalyst and alloy makers is packed as produced. Every lot is re-assayed by fire assay and ICP-OES and released against a Certificate of Analysis. Output: certified platinum, palladium and rhodium metal with full assay documentation.
The main chain runs vertically through preparation → pretreatment → aqua regia dissolution → silver and gold removal → platinum → palladium → rhodium → reduction and casting. Side branches route reactor vapour and scrubber liquor back to the process, silver chloride to the silver circuit, gold powder to the gold circuit, the iridium-bearing tail liquid to iridium recovery, the rhodium filtrate to raffinate treatment, and neutralised water to the rinse loop.
Product Structure (Main Equipment)
The set is supplied as factory-assembled, piped and functionally tested modules, with the wetted path built from glass, glass-lined steel, titanium, stainless steel and anti-ageing PP according to duty.
- Feed Preparation and Milling Unit — crusher, ball or hammer mill, screen and dust extraction for monolith, powder and residue feed, plus a weighing and sampling station. Function: reducing feed to a uniform particle size and delivering a representative assay sample.
- Pretreatment and Acid-Wash Reactor — enclosed glass-lined or PP reactor with agitation and heating for hydrochloric / nitric acid washing and conditioning of the refractory fraction. Function: removing base metals and raising the dissolution rate of palladium oxide and alloyed Rh / Ir / Ru.
- Enclosed Aqua Regia Reactor Train — glass-lined (enamel) kettles, titanium and titanium-clad vessels, static glass reactors and anti-ageing PP reactors with agitation, controlled heating, reflux, sealed reaction mouth and vacuum transfer connections. Function: dissolving PGM feed under fully enclosed, controlled conditions.
- Tumbler / Rotating Reactor — inclined PP or titanium cylinder, typically set at about 25°, with speed-controlled continuous rotation, automatic dosing and direct or indirect electric or fired heating. Function: keeping dense, sludge-like and granular feed in contact with the liquor so dissolution completes in a short residence time.
- Sealed Reaction Hood and Gas–Liquid Separation Unit — sealed fume hood over the reactor mouth with a cold-water circulation condenser, gas–liquid separator and condensate return line. Function: condensing acid vapour and steam, returning the precious metal carried in the condensate to the reactor, and preventing metal loss to atmosphere.
- Reagent Preparation and Dosing Station — graduated chemical tanks, metering and dosing pumps, and PP trays inside secondary containment for acids, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfite, sodium chloride, sodium sulfite and reducing agents. Function: precise, repeatable reagent addition with reduced operator exposure.
- Filtration and Solution Transfer Skid — horizontal filters with a slight incline for complete vacuum draw-off, plate-and-frame filter press, wheel filter with diaphragm pump, glass elevated (high-level) storage tanks, vacuum receivers and solution transfer piping. Function: clarifying liquor, washing and dewatering precipitate, and moving high-value solution by vacuum rather than pouring.
- Precipitation and Reduction Reactor Set — dedicated agitated reactors with temperature control and dosing for ammonium chloroplatinate and ammonium chloropalladate precipitation, sulfite reduction of gold, and hydrazine hydrate / formic acid / hydrogen reduction of palladium. Function: selective recovery of a single metal out of a mixed PGM liquor.
- Rhodium Complexation and Separation Unit — pH-controlled reactor with alkali dosing, sulfite addition and boiling control, filtration, washing and redissolution vessels for the ammonium trisulfite route to ammonium chlororhodate. Function: separating rhodium from iridium and from the residual base metals.
- Solvent Extraction and Ion-Exchange Skid — mixer-settler banks for TBP, DBC and amine extractants, centrifugal extractors, and ion-exchange resin or molecular-recognition columns with elution and regeneration circuits. Function: splitting and polishing individual PGM streams where precipitation alone cannot reach the target grade.
- Electrowinning and Dilute-Stream Recovery Units — high-current-density and rotating or cyclone electrowinning cells, resin and carbon capture columns. Function: recovering PGM from wash water, bleed, eluate and dilute liquor instead of neutralising the metal to waste.
- Nitrogen Oxide and Acid Gas Treatment System — multi-stage jet-spray absorption tower in anti-ageing PPH, gas–liquid separators, non-oxidation tank, circulation pumps and tank, and two-stage alkali neutralisation with pH control. Function: reducing NOₓ from the order of 30,000 mg/m³ at the inlet to below 100 mg/m³, and absorbing HCl, Cl₂ and acid mist.
- Wastewater Neutralisation and Polishing Unit — neutralisation reactor, settling tank, sludge filter press and polish-water loop with metal analysis. Function: compliant discharge and recirculation of process water.
- Calcination, Reduction and Drying Furnace Set — calcination furnace for ammonium salts, hydrogen reduction furnace and controlled drying ovens. Function: converting purified PGM salts to metal sponge and powder at controlled temperature and atmosphere.
- Melting, Granulation and Casting Unit — medium- and high-frequency induction melting furnaces, granulator, ingot moulds and vacuum ingot casting machine with inert-gas pressurisation and tight temperature control. Function: casting void-free bars or producing granules and buttons from refined PGM metal.
- Assay and Quality-Control Laboratory — XRF analyser, fire-assay furnace and cupellation equipment, sample preparation bench, potentiometric titration and ICP-OES. Function: input control, in-process checking and Certificate of Analysis.
- PLC Automation and Control Cabinet — PLC with touch-screen HMI, dosing, temperature, pH, vacuum and scrubbing control, rectifier and pump control, parameter logging, alarms and interlocks. Function: repeatable, safe, traceable operation and a defensible metal-accounting record.
- Safety and Workplace Package — reactor fume hoods, local extraction, acid-proof flooring and matting, secondary containment, eyewash and safety shower, gas-detection interlocks and operator protective equipment. Function: operator protection and compliance with workplace chemical-handling rules.
Product Features
- Purpose-built for the three PGM metals. The route is designed around the individual chemistry of platinum, palladium and rhodium — ammonium chloroplatinate and ammonium chloropalladate precipitation for Pt and Pd, ammonium sulfite complexation and ligand substitution for Rh — not as a gold line with a PGM stage bolted on.
- Pretreatment stage included, not optional. Acid washing and conditioning of the refractory fraction are built into the flow, which is what allows palladium oxide and alloyed rhodium, iridium and ruthenium to dissolve instead of reporting to the residue and being sold as a loss.
- Rhodium separated from iridium by chemistry. The ammonium trisulfite separation is run as a controlled, pH-managed operation, so rhodium is recovered as a clean compound while iridium remains in solution and is subsequently recovered rather than contaminating the rhodium product.
- Sealed reactors with condensate recovery. Sealed reaction mouths and hoods, a cold-water circulation condenser and a gas–liquid separator keep vapour inside the system and return the metal-bearing condensate to the reactor — the single largest avoidable PGM loss in older open-hood refineries.
- High-concentration NOₓ handled inside the package. Multi-stage jet-spray absorption with a non-oxidation tank and two-stage alkali neutralisation is sized for the nitrogen-oxide load that PGM dissolution actually produces, holding the outlet below 100 mg/m³.
- High recovery on high-grade feed. Direct PGM recovery reaches up to 99% on suitable feed from about 5% PGM content upward, with raffinate, condensate and filter wash liquors returned to the circuit so that metal leaves the plant as product rather than as residue.
- Purity established by re-precipitation, not by hope. Repeated precipitation, oxidative hydrolysis, complexation–dissolution–acidification cycles and hydrogen reduction are specified for each metal, delivering Pt ≥ 99.95%, Pd ≥ 99.95% and Rh ≥ 99.90%.
- Low hold-up of very high-value metal. Glass elevated tanks, horizontal filters, vacuum transfer and short 3–6 hour batch reactions keep solution volumes and equipment surfaces small, so far less Pt, Pd and Rh is tied up in process inventory at any moment.
- Corrosion-engineered wetted path. Glass, glass-lined enamel steel, titanium, stainless steel and anti-ageing PP are selected against the real duty — aqua regia, chloride liquor, ammonium sulfite and alkali — rather than a single material used everywhere.
- Cyanide-free chemistry. The standard route uses aqua regia, chloride and chlorine oxidant, sulfite, ammonium salts and hydrogen, with no cyanide salt anywhere in the flow.
- Visibility and cleanability as design principles. Transparent glass vessels and filters let the operator see colour change, level and precipitate formation directly, and they clean out completely, so residual metal held on equipment surfaces is minimised.
- Batch accountability. Weighing, sampling and assaying are tied to a batch record, and every consignment is released against an assay certificate from fire assay and ICP-OES — essential when a single batch can be worth more than the equipment.
- Modular and scalable. The same process logic runs from bench and pilot sets to industrial PGM refineries; capacity is added by duplicating reactor, separation and treatment trains rather than by redesigning the chemistry.
Technical Parameters & Specifications
Values below describe the standard process envelope and product outcomes. Throughput, footprint, power and utility figures are engineered to each client’s feed assay, target metals and site conditions, and are confirmed at design review.
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Product | Platinum Palladium Rhodium Refining Equipment (PGM Refining and Separation Line) |
| Metals refined | Platinum (Pt) · Palladium (Pd) · Rhodium (Rh); iridium (Ir) and ruthenium (Ru) on request |
| Process route | Wet-chemistry chloride route: pretreatment → aqua regia / chlorination dissolution → silver and gold removal → selective precipitation → solvent extraction and ion exchange → reduction → calcination and casting |
| Overall PGM recovery | Up to 99% direct recovery for Pt, Pd and Rh on suitable feed, with raffinate, condensate and wash liquors returned to the circuit |
| Refined platinum purity | Pt ≥ 99.95% (ammonium chloride repeated precipitation and/or oxidative hydrolysis) |
| Refined palladium purity | Pd ≥ 99.95% (ammonium chloropalladate precipitation; ammonia complexation combined process) |
| Refined rhodium purity | Rh ≥ 99.90% (ammonium sulfite complexation and ligand substitution) |
| Optional metal purity | Ir and Ru powder on request; PGM salts to specification in chemical form |
| Recommended feed grade | PGM content from about 5% upward for direct separation and refining; leaner material is pre-concentrated first |
| Dissolution chemistry | Aqua regia (approximately 3:1 HCl : HNO₃) · hydrochloric acid with chlorine gas as oxidant · nitric acid parting · pressure leaching · oxidising fusion for refractory Rh / Ir / Ru fractions |
| Pretreatment chemistry | Hydrochloric or nitric acid washing of base metals · roasting and oxidation conditioning of palladium oxide and alloyed PGM fractions |
| Platinum separation reagents | Ammonium chloride (ammonium chloroplatinate) · oxidative hydrolysis |
| Palladium separation reagents | Ammonium chloride (ammonium chloropalladate) · ammonia complexation · hydrazine hydrate · formic acid · hydrogen |
| Rhodium separation reagents | Sodium chloride · ammonium sulfite (approximately 25% solution, volume ratio about 1:0.75) · concentrated hydrochloric acid · ammonia · hydrogen |
| Gold and silver reagents (where present) | Sodium chloride for silver chloride · anhydrous sodium sulfite for gold reduction |
| Separation technologies | Selective precipitation · ammonium salt precipitation · complexation and ligand substitution · solvent extraction (TBP, DBC, amine extractants) · centrifugal extraction · ion-exchange and molecular-recognition columns · cementation |
| Reactor materials | Glass-lined (enamel) steel · titanium and titanium-clad · static glass · anti-ageing PP / PPH · stainless steel where duty allows |
| Reactor configuration | Enclosed kettle with agitation, heating, reflux and sealed mouth · inclined tumbling reactor at about 25° with speed control and automatic dosing |
| Batch reaction time | Typically 3–6 hours for dissolution, depending on feed type and particle size |
| Precise rhodium operating window (typical) | Sodium chlororhodate solution at about 50 g/L Rh · pH adjusted to about 1–1.5 · sulfite addition · boil at pH near 6.4 to precipitate the ammonium trisulfite complex |
| Platinum salt calcination temperature | Above 800 °C, followed by hydrogen reduction |
| Operating temperature range | Ambient to about 90–100 °C in the chemical section, with calcination and melting at higher temperature in their dedicated furnaces |
| Filtration and transfer | Horizontal filter with slight incline and full vacuum draw-off · filter press · wheel filter with diaphragm pump · vacuum solution transfer · glass elevated storage tanks |
| Off-gas inlet NOₓ concentration | Of the order of 30,000 mg/m³ from PGM dissolution |
| Treated NOₓ concentration | Below 100 mg/m³, within discharge standard |
| Scrubber absorption efficiency | ≥ 99.5% for NOₓ, HCl, Cl₂ and acid mist |
| Gas streams handled | NOₓ · HCl · Cl₂ · SO₂ · acid mist · ammonia |
| Metal recovered from off-gas | Condensate and scrubber liquor returned to the process circuit |
| Wastewater treatment | Segregated collection, neutralisation, metal precipitation and polishing; polish water below 10 ppm metal, recirculated |
| Casting | Ingots, bars, granules, buttons and sponge; vacuum ingot casting with inert-gas pressurisation |
| Assay and quality control | XRF · fire assay with cupellation · ICP-OES, with a Certificate of Analysis per batch |
| Automation | PLC with touch-screen HMI; dosing, temperature, pH, vacuum, rectifier and scrubbing control; parameter logging, alarms and interlocks |
| Configuration scale | Laboratory bench · pilot · industrial turnkey, with the same process logic at every scale |
| Feed forms accepted | Monolith · milled catalyst powder · concentrate and alloy · sweeps and wire · process liquor · loaded resin and carbon · anode slime and residue |
| Standards | CE; EPA and EU emission and discharge limits; cyanide-free process route |
Technical Advantages
- Dissolution rate is designed in, not left to chance. Because palladium oxide and alloyed rhodium, iridium and ruthenium dissolve very poorly on a straight aqua regia attack, the line opens with an acid-wash and conditioning stage. Raising the dissolution rate at the front is what makes a 99% direct recovery figure credible rather than theoretical.
- Rhodium is actually separated from iridium. The ammonium sulfite complexation route exploits the fact that iridium does not form the corresponding precipitate under the same conditions. A line that treats rhodium as “the rest of the liquor” carries iridium into the rhodium product and loses both grade and value; here the two are separated deliberately.
- Metal loss through the exhaust is captured, not vented. Open refining cabinets draw large air volumes, which evaporate solution and carry precious metal out with the vapour. Sealing the reactor mouth and condensing the vapour returns that metal to the batch — in a PGM plant this single detail can be worth more per year than the cost of the condenser.
- The NOₓ problem is solved at the design stage. PGM dissolution generates nitrogen-oxide concentrations in the region of 30,000 mg/m³, roughly an order of magnitude beyond what a jewellery gold line produces. The multi-stage jet-spray tower, gas–liquid separator, non-oxidation tank and two-stage alkali neutralisation are sized for that load, holding the outlet below 100 mg/m³.
- Purity built by repetition and re-purification. Repeated ammonium chloride precipitation, oxidative hydrolysis for platinum, complexation–dissolution–acidification cycling for palladium and hydrogen reduction for rhodium and platinum are what hold Pt ≥ 99.95%, Pd ≥ 99.95% and Rh ≥ 99.90% batch after batch, rather than a single precipitation that drifts with the feed.
- Solvent extraction and ion exchange available as a second lever. Where a feed is unusually complex — high iridium, mixed Pt/Pd ratio, heavy base-metal load — TBP, DBC and amine extractants on mixer-settler banks or centrifugal extractors, plus resin and molecular-recognition columns, split and polish the streams that precipitation alone cannot clean.
- Low inventory of extremely high-value metal. Three to six hour batch reactions, small solution volumes, horizontal filters with full vacuum draw-off and glass elevated tanks together mean less platinum, palladium and rhodium is sitting in solution, on tank walls or in filter cakes at any moment — a direct reduction in working capital and metal at risk.
- Corrosion protection matched to each duty. Aqua regia, chloride liquor, ammonium sulfite, ammonia and alkali are all aggressive in different ways; using glass-lined steel, titanium, static glass and anti-ageing PP where each belongs extends equipment life and avoids the contamination that a wrongly chosen material causes.
- By-products instead of disposal costs. Base metals removed in pretreatment, gold and silver where present, iridium from the tail liquid, and decontaminated catalyst support all leave as recoverable or saleable streams instead of tipping fees.
- Dilute streams still pay. Cyclone, rotating-cathode and high-current-density electrowinning plus resin capture work from low concentrations upward, turning wash water, bleed and eluate that would otherwise be neutralised into recovered metal.
- Compliance and licence to operate. Closed-loop water, condensate recovery and 99.5%+ absorption keep the line inside EPA and EU emission and discharge limits, and the cyanide-free route removes the most heavily regulated reagent class from the site entirely.
- Batch traceability on a high-value product. Weighing, sampling and assay management are integrated into the control system, so every batch carries an input assay, a process record and an output Certificate of Analysis — the documentation auditors, banks and metal buyers expect.
- Turnkey single-point accountability. One contractor owns test work, process design, equipment, assembly, commissioning and operator training, which removes the integration risk of building a PGM refinery out of several vendors’ modules.
Service Process
YuSai delivers a platinum palladium rhodium refining line as a full turnkey project, from feed characterisation and bench test work to a running, assay-verified PGM refinery.
Steps 1 — Feed Characterisation and Consultation. Send representative samples of your catalyst, converter powder, sweeps, residue or PGM liquor. Our metallurgical team runs XRF, fire assay and ICP-OES, identifies the Pt, Pd, Rh and impurity levels, checks the base-metal and support load, and proposes the optimal dissolution and separation route with the achievable purity. Output: assay report and preliminary route proposal.
Steps 2 — Laboratory Test Work and Process Design. Bench and pilot campaigns confirm dissolution conditions and rates, reagent consumption, the separation sequence, decontamination of the residue and expected recovery, and are converted into a mass balance, flowsheet, equipment list, vessel and tower sizing, utility schedule and plant layout against your throughput, site and local emission and discharge rules. Output: test report, process design package and firm quotation.
Steps 3 — Detailed Engineering and Manufacturing. Reactors, hoods and condensers, filtration and transfer skid, precipitation and complexation units, solvent-extraction and resin columns, NOₓ and acid-gas treatment tower, wastewater plant, reduction and calcination furnaces, casting unit and control cabinet are fabricated, pre-assembled on skids and piped. Output: engineered, skid-mounted modules.
Steps 4 — Factory Assembly, Testing and Acceptance. Each module is functionally tested and the whole train is trial-run, wherever possible on your own material, with the client invited to attend the factory acceptance test before shipment. Output: FAT-approved, pre-commissioned modules.
Steps 5 — Shipping, Installation and Commissioning. We supervise the civil interface, erection, piping, ductwork and electrical tie-in, then run an instrumented commissioning campaign on your feed until the contracted purity and recovery are demonstrated and the NOₓ outlet is verified against your local limit. Output: a producing PGM refinery at contracted performance.
Steps 6 — Operator Training and Handover. On-site training covers safe aqua regia and chlorination working, reagent handling and dosing, precipitation and complexation control, off-gas and effluent operation, emergency procedures and assay QC, supported by Standard Operating Procedures and a full handover dossier. Output: trained crew and complete documentation.
Steps 7 — Process Optimisation and Ongoing Support. Remote troubleshooting, reagent supply, electrode, resin and carbon service, periodic performance audits and recovery or capacity upgrade paths keep the line at target over its service life. Output: sustained performance and spare-part continuity.
Warranty & After-Sales Service
- Standard warranty. Twelve (12) months from commissioning, or eighteen (18) months from shipment, whichever comes first, covering structural, mechanical, electrical, control and scrubbing equipment against defects in material and workmanship.
- What the warranty covers. Replacement of defective components, repair or exchange of main-process equipment, and free remote technical guidance throughout the warranty period. Consumables such as reagents, electrodes, resin, carbon and filter cloth, and damage caused by misuse, unauthorised modification or operation outside the agreed feed and process envelope, are excluded.
- Guaranteed performance. We warrant that, when fed material inside the agreed assay and throughput envelope and operated to the supplied SOP, the line meets the contracted Pt, Pd and Rh purity and recovery figures, verified at commissioning by fire assay and ICP-OES.
- Response commitment. Guaranteed remote response within 24 hours, on-site engineer dispatch and hotline support for breakdowns affecting production, and expedited supply of critical spares.
- Spare parts and consumables. Genuine spares, electrodes, rectifier components, metering pumps, ion-exchange resin, activated carbon, filter cloth, tower packing and reagent ranges are held as a stocking range to minimise downtime.
- Commissioning and start-up support. Supervised installation, commissioning on the customer’s own feed, performance verification against contract, off-gas outlet verification and an operator competence sign-off before handover.
- Lifetime technical support. Free access to our engineering team for process questions after warranty expiry, plus optional retrofit, capacity-upgrade, recovery-improvement and reagent-optimisation services.
- Documentation. Full operating, maintenance and safety manuals, electrical drawings, P&ID, scrubber and tower documentation, spare-parts catalogue, SOPs and training material accompany every line.
- Compliance support. Assistance with local emission, effluent and chemical-storage permitting documentation, and with the assay and product-certification records that buyers and authorities require.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is platinum palladium rhodium refining equipment?
Platinum palladium rhodium refining equipment is a wet-chemistry plant that dissolves platinum-group metal feed in aqua regia or chloride media, separates the metals one from another with silver chloride precipitation, ammonium salt precipitation, complexation and solvent extraction, and reduces each purified compound to metal. It delivers platinum, palladium and rhodium as separate products at Pt ≥ 99.95%, Pd ≥ 99.95% and Rh ≥ 99.90%, with direct recovery of up to 99% on suitable feed, and it treats the nitrogen-oxide off-gas that PGM dissolution produces inside the same package.
Q2. Which platinum-group metals can the equipment refine?
The standard configuration refines platinum, palladium and rhodium. Iridium and ruthenium are separated on request — iridium from the rhodium tail liquid by oxidation and coprecipitation, ruthenium by oxidative distillation of its volatile tetroxide — and osmium only in a dedicated fully enclosed circuit because its tetroxide is highly toxic. Gold and silver, where the feed carries them, are removed on the same line and finished on their own circuits.
Q3. Why is rhodium harder to refine than platinum or palladium?
Rhodium’s aqua-chloride complexes are kinetically inert and its higher oxidation states are difficult to reach, so a direct aqua regia or chlorination attack leaves part of the rhodium undissolved. It is normally separated by ligand substitution rather than simple precipitation: the chlororhodate solution is treated with ammonium sulfite under controlled acidity and boiling so that rhodium precipitates as an ammonium trisulfite complex while iridium stays in solution, and the rhodium salt is then converted to ammonium chlororhodate and reduced with hydrogen.
Q4. Why does palladium sometimes not dissolve in aqua regia?
Palladium can oxidise to palladium oxide (PdO), which is insoluble in both acid and alkali, and a straight aqua regia or chlorination attack on such material dissolves it very poorly. The equipment therefore includes a pretreatment stage — acid washing plus roasting or oxidising conditioning — that converts the refractory fraction into a dissolvable form before the main dissolution. This pretreatment is the difference between a good recovery figure and a poor one on catalyst-derived feed.
Q5. What PGM content should the feed have?
Direct separation and refining works from a PGM content of roughly 5% and above. Material below that grade is better pre-concentrated first — by physical beneficiation, smelting or selective leaching — because the cost of acid, reagents and reactor time per kilogram of metal becomes unattractive. During test work we will tell you where your material sits and whether pre-concentration is worth adding.
Q6. How long does a PGM refining batch take?
Dissolution typically runs 3–6 hours depending on the feed type and particle size, with catalyst powder dissolving faster than dense alloy or sludge. The precipitation, complexation and reduction stages that follow are individually short but sequential, so the practical cycle is set by how many batches can be run in parallel and by cell, filter and furnace availability. Silver and gold removal are fast single-step operations.
Q7. What purity and recovery can the line achieve?
Pt ≥ 99.95%, Pd ≥ 99.95% and Rh ≥ 99.90% as standard products, with iridium and ruthenium recovered on request, and PGM salts supplied to specification where a buyer prefers chemical form. Direct PGM recovery reaches up to 99% on suitable feed. Recovery is protected by returning raffinate, condensate from the reactors, and filter wash liquor to the circuit, and both purity and recovery are confirmed on your own material during test work and verified at commissioning by fire assay and ICP-OES.
Q8. How is the nitrogen-oxide gas from PGM dissolution treated?
PGM dissolution produces the most concentrated nitrogen-oxide off-gas in precious-metal refining, typically of the order of 30,000 mg/m³. The reactor mouth is sealed and fitted with a hood, the vapour passes through a cold-water circulation condenser and gas–liquid separator, the metal-bearing condensate returns to the reactor, and the gas then enters a multi-stage jet-spray absorption tower with a non-oxidation tank and two-stage alkali neutralisation. Outlet concentration is held below 100 mg/m³ with absorption efficiency of 99.5% or better.
Q9. Is the process cyanide-free?
Yes. The standard route uses aqua regia, hydrochloric acid with chlorine as oxidant, nitric acid, sodium chloride, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfite, sodium sulfite, hydrazine hydrate, formic acid and hydrogen — none of which involve cyanide salts. This keeps the plant out of the most heavily regulated reagent class and simplifies permitting and workplace safety.
Q10. How is metal loss to the exhaust prevented?
By sealing the reactor mouth and condensing the vapour rather than diluting it. Traditional PGM refining is done in an open refining cabinet whose exhaust runs continuously, which requires a large air volume and causes solution to evaporate and precious metal to be carried out with the vapour. Here the reactor is closed, a gas–liquid separation and condensation device condenses the steam and acid vapour, and the condensate — which contains precious metal — is returned to the reactor while only the nitrogen oxide goes to the treatment tower.
Q11. What materials of construction are used?
Glass, glass-lined (enamel) steel, titanium, titanium-clad, static glass and anti-ageing PP / PPH, selected against the duty of each stage. Corrosion resistance is only part of the reason: transparent glass vessels and filters let the operator see colour change, liquid level and precipitate formation directly, and they clean out completely, so residual metal held on equipment surfaces is minimised. That is why glass elevated tanks and glass horizontal filters are preferred wherever the duty allows.
Q12. What capacity range is available?
The line is modular. Configuration runs from bench and pilot sets for process development and small-batch work to industrial PGM refineries, with the same process logic at every scale, so capacity is added by duplicating reactor, separation and treatment trains rather than by redesigning the chemistry. The right size is fixed at design review from your feed assay, metal load and batch frequency.
Q13. Should we refine in-house or sell the concentrate to a refinery?
In-house refining captures the full margin between a mixed PGM concentrate and three finished metals, removes third-party refining charges and settlement delays, shortens the cash cycle and gives the operator control of its own assay and product certification. It also turns previously marginal material into feed worth processing, because a batch no longer has to justify an overseas shipment. The economic case is normally settled by a test-work-based mass balance on your own material.
Q14. What information is needed for a quotation?
A representative sample or assay of your feed giving Pt, Pd, Rh and the main base metals; the material type and physical form, including whether the PGM is in ceramic, carbon, alumina or metallic form; the target throughput and batch frequency; the products and purity you want to sell; available floor area, headroom and utilities; and your local air-emission, wastewater and chemical-storage requirements. A sample and an assay are what let us confirm the route and the performance figures.
Q15. What warranty, installation and support are included?
A standard 12-month warranty from commissioning, or 18 months from shipment, whichever comes first, covering material and workmanship defects with defective-part replacement and free remote support, backed by a guaranteed-performance clause confirming the contracted purity and recovery at commissioning. Turnkey delivery includes supervised installation, commissioning on your own feed, off-gas outlet verification, on-site operator training with full SOPs and a handover dossier, a 24-hour remote response commitment, stocked spares and consumables, and lifetime technical support after warranty expiry.
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