I have a suggestion for consolidating your high melting metal powders into a chunk of metal. You could take the mud from electrowinning the Pt and Pd out of Cu and dry it out to get metal powder. When we work with precious metal powders in the lab, we press them into pellets in a pellet die then melt them in an arc melter. You will not need an inert atmosphere to melt Pt or Pd so you could use a TIG torch to melt them. Use a large, clean block of copper as a hearth plate and the metal should not stick (unless you get the copper too hot). I think your Idea of adding silver to reduce the melting point of the lead alloy was a good idea.
Industrial separation of cats is usually done with very high heat and using iron as the collection metal though some use copper. I also know that the honeycomb is burnt off before being milled into a fine powder in a ball mill. Also of note is that newer iron sulfide methods of extraction are being used as they can operate at a temp of only 950 deg C.
Just FYI, the tantalum peaks and platinum peaks for some types of xrf guns can overlap to the point where even 100% pure platinum will be read as tantalum. Codyslab has the same problem with gold and tungsten, the reason is because the gold and tungsten X-ray detection peaks are so close together the machine can’t decide which element signal it is. The same problem occurs with tantalum and platinum. Contact the customer support for your particular brand of xrf gun to determine if this is a known problem. Also try maybe shooting a sample of known platinum concentration, something where it’s impossible to have tantalum contamination and see what reading you get.
I like the idea of silver as a collector, the button could then be dissolved in nitric, putting the silver and palladium into solution and leaving only the platinum at the bottom of a beaker. Then the silver and palladium could each be brought out of solution, one at a time, thus separating those two from each other.
Would agree that increasing silver content during smelt process might help increase recovery if it’s actually the limiting reactant for pulling out the palladium. Any way to calculate that? Chemistry is freakin cool.
This is what I found: One of the main uses of tantalum is in the production of electronic components. An oxide layer which forms on the surface of tantalum can act as an insulating (dielectric) layer. Because tantalum can be used to coat other metals with a very thin layer, a high capacitance can be achieved in a small volume.
Tantalum is very rare & used in every cell phone. It is only found in Tanzania, ,Africa using child labor. Many die in the unstable mines. They are buried in the mine.
@goldcic That is so sad. There is so much stuff like that that goes on in the world its hard to believe. Do you know much about the content in this video by chance? If so I'd like to ask you a few questions about it thanks in advance. Also you are very well nevermind you already know 😉
The platinum in the ceramic beads can be recovered directly from the beads with a complex reaction. I think you will have higher Pt recovery from the complex reaction process than from the smelting process.
It would be useful to stir the molten metal bath to increase the contact surface of the collector metal with the PGMs and if you use copper as a collector, the ideal is to subject the PGM copper alloy to electrolysis, reuse the electrolytic copper and the PGMs remain as black powder to be refined in the bottom of the electrolytic tank, the excessive use of NaO in the flux can involve losses of Pt, the highest production cost is in the flux, sodium borate is not cheap. Congratulations for the job!!
Some of those have Rhodium. Palladium will be highest content then platinum then rhodium. (Generally). Converters have different amounts of metal depending on the motor they were used on. The honeycomb is called the substrate. You don’t want that. All you want is the coating on the substrate. that’s where the metal is. The slurry coats the substrate. If you can find a way to get just the coating off the substrate, you will greatly reduce the effort and starting material. (Crushed up substrate is just more waste you have to remove.). That’s about as much as I can tell you without fear of Loosing my job.
hello. thanks for your information. Maybe can you tell something about how posible take out the rhodium from catalyc? thanks thats the main problem for me...
@@szucslorant4115 there's a RUclips video somewhere that shows how to separate rhodium out of solution of aqua regia using zinc, it's a lot like using copper to pull silver out of nitric acid solution, the zinc is more reactive so it prefers the zinc in solution so the rhodium drops out as black powder. I can't remember who it was but it looked like a Russian smelter. Poor quality video but great quality info. But you'd have to separate out the platinum or palladium first, I can't remember if you need to first but there's a way to do that. Or you could just collect spark plugs and go for the iridium 😂
I saw a guy put the whole ceramic in a crucible and melt the entire thing, I guess he had a furnace hot enough to melt ceramic, then poured it into an inverted pyramid mold so all the PGMs sank to the bottom and there was a little silver button at the tip of the pyramid after it cooled and he dropped it out.
In addition to tantalum, I also noticed some vanadium. Both metals can be used in NOX converters. The converter you used had two distinct sections. Perhaps the upstream section was for NOX and the downstream a typical converter.
Cupellation a refining process in metallurgy where ores or alloyed metals are treated under very high temperatures & non oxidizing precious metals remain apart, and the others react, forming slags or other compounds
hey Jason cool video man :) great to see all the skills used in smelting : I won't pretend i know much about this :) but I will say I love watching these type of videos :)
I worked at both the Stillwater Smelter & Base Metals Refinery in Columbus Montana. We’d actually smelt down Bulk Bags of Catalyst. The end result was a black powder we sent to Engelhard Refinery for end process. They’d keep the Gold / Silver and we’d get the Platinum/Palladium. I will say we had all the mined metal from the Nye Montana and East Boulder.
@@thefogisgone3662 the recovery rate is less if you leave it all together. So some jagoff's decides to extract 40% chemically of the metal than sell it at full price.
you will never get from ebay cleaned ones are empty because those dudes use acids, and since its inside metal tube you cant get it all out, they all on ebay got 30-40% of the initial content left, but yes you better off not pay at all what was in there
Thank you, Jason, for this extensive empirical research. I think this is the best research you can find on you tube. I do not understand this subject, but as you explain everything it all sounds so logical.
Hello Jason, I invite you to Kazakhstan I really like your method. I have a large quartz ore deposit where I get gold for life with the use of (chemical) acids. If you could help me with your method, I would be very happy Regards Odil!
Since there's so little platinum and palladium in each converter, the chemical method with hot aqua regia is usually the best method. You just keep soaking new converter fragments over and over until the reagent is used up. Then cool the solution quickly, and most of the platinum/palladium just falls out. I found that out by accident when refining some old 10K gold jewelry. Fine grey sediment fell out of the aqua regia as it cooled, and I discovered it was metallic, then confirmed it was indeed platinum-palladium alloy.
When you pour without collector metal you need to pre-heat the tip of your pyramid mold to red hot otherwise the tip solidifies before the heaviest stuff settles to the tip.
the taguchi method is a good way to investigate problems of multiple variables. because of how it works, unknowns are less of a problem, like iron contamination or whatever from fhe casting vessel, the unexpected presence of tantalum
Love all your videos since I found this site I have used several techniques! Great descriptions fabulous RUclips channel best online thanks for taking the time to do so it's beginners like us that would never continue or it not for people like you!
@@jaydaksrules5316 The key is to use around half the oxygen you would normally use. Other wise an oxy/acetylene flame is so hot it will just vaporize gold and pgm's like you said. Especially when in small amount or if its in a finely divided state.
@@jaydaksrules5316 Also you should be able to remove all the lead from gold with normal means with a cupel. Really only pgm's have the issue of needing really high temperature to remove the last bit of lead.
At 13:17, there's a sports car on the back side of the cooling pyramid just above the slag line. Now we know what kind of car left it's spirit in that cat.
i trust you know exactly what you're doing. still have to say, it pains me to see a 1oz silver buffalo go into a crucible in may when spot was around $16. it almost went to $30 in august!
hi guy - i work with advanced geopolymer technology which is closely related to glass and ceramic technology. we experiment with different recipes of exacting amounts of secret ingredients. most people studying the technology just use clay out of the ground which is full of impurities. anyways just wanted to mention that quartz (silica) can be compared to ice. Water can only hold so much soluble minerals before getting saturated and then minerals fall out of solution and settle to the bottom. Then when the saturated water freezes the dissolved minerals stay suspended in the ice. this is similar to the smelting recovery process you are using. Molten silica also has a saturation limit. I can see it would be important to have precisely measured ingredients to maximize recovery rates! if too much silica is used then some of the precious metal will be lost (absorbed) into the glass matrix. Good thing the cheap collector metals are probably more soluble in the glass than the precious metals. I wonder if oxidized collector metals could be used such as copper oxide powder instead of copper metal because glass loves to absorb and bond to oxides. the molten silica could get saturated with cheap soluble oxides so that more of the precious metal could fall out of molten solution ??? not really sure. great videos by the way - this is the first time learning about Quepel Technology (i have no idea how to spell it) - much simpler than acid recovery/refining methods!!!
This is an awesome reply. I would’ve never thought of silica absorbing PMs. And so you can look more into the process, it is spelled Cupel (Cupelling). I’m learning more about it myself. I have a lot of waste material that might contain PT group metals, so planning on trying the cupelling process to recover those.
How do you know where it's at? I mean you just pick a spot and test dig or is there a way to find it then mine it. I know I can Google it but I'm old school I like to learn shit from people who do it, not just say whatever is standard. Thank you
In terms of using an automotive catalyst- assuming the mass of the base catalyst matters relative to how much PGM recovery you expect- I would suggest only doing the first catalyst. Generally, they will have 5x the amount of platinum or palladium in them vs. the second one. Again, finding automotive catalysts from PZEV vehicles in the 2000-2007 range will the highest potential of all PGM. After some control work, OEM's figured out how to manipulate the air-fuel control to not require the high PGM loadings of the original PZEV cars. Also- all of the gasoline catalysts in the last 30 years are all 3 way catalysts. The first one will do the vast majority of the work, the second one is there for high mass flow (like when you accelerate on a freeway). I know nothing about industrial catalysts- so it will be interesting to see your experiment.
I am going through these chemistry puzzles too. They have the answers but they keep them secret when this should be for all to know. Have Royalty system for a time in commercial applications.
I used to be the head guy in charge of catalyst in a factory. Dodge and aftermarket converts are made from the same low metal content junk catalyst. We had stacks of 55 gallon drums of catalyst powder that I had to inventory everyday and keep behind lock and key. The only problem was workers like to pee in the powder durning production instead of walking like a quarter mile trip to the restroom.
The XRF gun can sometimes get confused, so the tantalum might actually be your platinum. I've seen gold show as lead and tungsten on XRF guns before, so they aren't always 100% correct
Yup. The signals generated from tantalum and platinum have a major feature in common (both signals have a big spike at 9.4 keV). It's similar for gold and tungsten (both have a big spike at 9.7 keV). Where the signals are similar they can be confused, so for best results, XRF software needs to have an idea of what is expected to be in the sample (this is why you get different versions for base metal analysis and precious metal analysis).
catch22frubert yep, codyslab almost always displays 100% pure gold as a tungsten peak. The amount of overlap between element peaks can be huge especially for pgms
I used to buy junk cars for a large junkyard in Southern California and some of the accounts that I had would take out the original catalytic converter‘s and put an aftermarket that were only worth about nine bucks. But the ones that were original could be anywhere from $60-$350 depending on the car. I know Mercedes-Benz & bmw in some of the older years or worth the most as a Honda accord was around 100 bucks. So if there’s buying these things up at those prices there Has to be a lot more value in them. And the guys taking them off Are the first guys in the chain you still need the middleman and the refinery need to make money
@mbmmllc The tantalum came from inside the engine. There's no platinum cause it was burnt off before the palladium was during vehicle use (wear and tear). There will always be a lower recovery on a used catalytic converter. The precious metals are coated on the ceramics, as it is in use (vehicle being driven) these precious metals are coming off and blowing in the road..BUT on a diesel semi truck the precious metals are being stored within the soot and collected above in the collector container.. on average those containers hold 2-3 oz's of particulate matter. This particulate matter holds more precious metals then on the used cones you are experimenting with. I have several pounds if you'd like to try a few samples.. let me know. I believe there are more precious metals in the particulates of the soot/ash of a diesel semi truck than in a used ceramic cone. Precious metals are sintered on the outside surfaces of the cones. As soot from the engine attaches to the cones (containing oils and other metals) they get super hot and almost sinter to the cones themselves. This soot/ash goes thru a super heat process of around 3200 f degrees during the regeneration process (cleaning process) and release these materials ..right along with the precious metals. Trying doing what you do with diesel soot/ash... I bet your results are higher.
Tantalum I noticed appears when you shot the silver bead, and that makes since because it is a transition medal also Ra too. They both came with the silver and copper. The copper I assume wasn't pure and was from wire scrap. Both Ra and Ta are contaminants from the coin and scrap wire.
The honeycomb stuff as you call it is primarily made from high ceramic grade talc with natyrally occurring asbestos content, yep the stuff that causes asbestosis so I hope you guys who venture into this endeavour feel the need to wear appropriate PPE and decontamination clothing and showers but that's your choice
Why not take a cat, and do two completely different recovery methods? Like chemical vs smelt, just to see what kind of losses you might recover from either method. Admittedly it is interesting to see someone do the smelting rather than chemical.
Ag has a lower melting point than Cu, better helping to lower the m.p. of your alloy. 25:22 - It's useful to place the metals with higher m.p.s on top, as they will melt last, while the heat from the Ag rises. Also, their higher densities will help push down on the Silver. More cost efficient to use Ag shot, than melting a coin? Haha. Whatever works! Will be Interesting to see which of your formulas produces the best yield. Cheers.
It’s called a Honda O2 Slant and yes because it is slanted on the o2 sensor. Value is around $600-800 but is dependent on current market values. The highest end Honda O2 is the Honda O2 Straight, the O2 sensor will be straight out the side with 4 fins below and 2 fins above the O2 sensor, fins located on heat shield. That would be valued from 800-1100 dependent on market value and are found on Honda accords 2000-2002. I’ve seen that high value converters can range from $500-$2000 for one converter unit, price will always vary with daily market changes. Knowing market fluctuations for platinum, palladium and rhodium and knowing the valuable cats and especially knowing how to handle your material properly with little loss and high recovery, will give you the greatest success in keeping your profit margins the highest they can be. The loss of value through handling of biscuit material, 5% loss through air born dust alone and if it is an end of life converter, the value could be dropped by 10-20% with that alone as well. Wet and damp or oily biscuit will greatly affect your value and how much you pay for loose biscuit material if you are processing and sending loose biscuit to a smelter. Use respirators when handling material because breathing in airborn dust is dangerous and possibly deadly if built up in lungs. Be safe, be legit and make money baby!
@Brian Baff I'm planning to put silicone rubber over the bolt heads, and wrap the exhaust path and catalytic converter in used tire cable chains, with a couple superficial welds along the way to keep everything solidly in place. I know this is not unstoppable, but I would imagine that this would make it an unpleasant job to remove for a would be thief. You guys think this will be effective? 2010 Prius.
@Brian Baff I looked at this, as far as I can tell it's only for 2nd generation Prius. I could probably build one by cutting out a piece of aluminum, but it would be a bunch of work.
About $87 at today’s Palladium price. I thank you might be loosing some metal somehow. I really think Chemical extraction is your best bet. Maybe that’s why everyone on the Internet is doing chemical extraction.
You can just part the pd/pt if your using Cu as the collector , drop your copper out with iron and go to salt with the pd. You are correct with time and temp curves at the end of your vid and that applies to cupellation as well . Crack that door on your table top , gotta have O2 for proper cupellation. Hit and run , close door to ramp up and crack the door and coast. Another tip is if you believe your loosing precious through copper soaking of the cupel , you will see what's known as feathering. To avoid this , bypass cupellation and just part the prill.
Platinum and palladium must be denser than ceramic because they're metal you ever think to put The crucible and the molten material on some sort of vibrating table to make it all settled to the bottom one bead instead of 11 million
I have a suggestion for consolidating your high melting metal powders into a chunk of metal. You could take the mud from electrowinning the Pt and Pd out of Cu and dry it out to get metal powder. When we work with precious metal powders in the lab, we press them into pellets in a pellet die then melt them in an arc melter. You will not need an inert atmosphere to melt Pt or Pd so you could use a TIG torch to melt them. Use a large, clean block of copper as a hearth plate and the metal should not stick (unless you get the copper too hot).
I think your Idea of adding silver to reduce the melting point of the lead alloy was a good idea.
Industrial separation of cats is usually done with very high heat and using iron as the collection metal though some use copper. I also know that the honeycomb is burnt off before being milled into a fine powder in a ball mill. Also of note is that newer iron sulfide methods of extraction are being used as they can operate at a temp of only 950 deg C.
Just FYI, the tantalum peaks and platinum peaks for some types of xrf guns can overlap to the point where even 100% pure platinum will be read as tantalum. Codyslab has the same problem with gold and tungsten, the reason is because the gold and tungsten X-ray detection peaks are so close together the machine can’t decide which element signal it is. The same problem occurs with tantalum and platinum. Contact the customer support for your particular brand of xrf gun to determine if this is a known problem. Also try maybe shooting a sample of known platinum concentration, something where it’s impossible to have tantalum contamination and see what reading you get.
Right on Spider with the information. Could of not said it better myself.
Is that not toxic as all hell?
@@shockingshorts8043 wear gloves and don't eat any
What about fumes?
@@shockingshorts8043 respirator and/or do it outside if you're grinding
Thanks, Jason. Raising your algorithm. Lotsa work for small recovery, so far - keep up the good work; I’m looking forward to your next video.
I like the idea of silver as a collector, the button could then be dissolved in nitric, putting the silver and palladium into solution and leaving only the platinum at the bottom of a beaker. Then the silver and palladium could each be brought out of solution, one at a time, thus separating those two from each other.
Yep I second that. Sliver nitrate is easy to separate and recover
Chemistry is so f ing cool
Would agree that increasing silver content during smelt process might help increase recovery if it’s actually the limiting reactant for pulling out the palladium. Any way to calculate that? Chemistry is freakin cool.
Nitric acid becomes weakened from more silver being present which reduces it's dissolve ability for the PL.
Jason keep up the great work - in the name of Science !!
Thanks for your videos!!
Looking forward to see the beads getting smelted!!
Have a GREAT Day!!!
The only thing we know for sure is who ever smelt it delt it.
🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂😂
Whoever did the rhyme did the crime.
That's just hilarious 😂
Dirty dog barks first.
dang those convection currents in the flux are really cool...
I do believe you're the first person to smelt down a converter. And show us how much is actually in it. Very good content..👍
This is what I found:
One of the main uses of tantalum is in the production of electronic components. An oxide layer which forms on the surface of tantalum can act as an insulating (dielectric) layer. Because tantalum can be used to coat other metals with a very thin layer, a high capacitance can be achieved in a small volume.
Any buyer for tantalum here?
Tantalum is very rare & used in every cell phone. It is only found in Tanzania, ,Africa using child labor. Many die in the unstable mines. They are buried in the mine.
@goldcic That is so sad. There is so much stuff like that that goes on in the world its hard to believe. Do you know much about the content in this video by chance? If so I'd like to ask you a few questions about it thanks in advance. Also you are very well nevermind you already know 😉
The platinum in the ceramic beads can be recovered directly from the beads with a complex reaction. I think you will have higher Pt recovery from the complex reaction process than from the smelting process.
Great experiments
Is it similar to the one that Cody’s lab did?
Beautiful convection cell video!
It would be useful to stir the molten metal bath to increase the contact surface of the collector metal with the PGMs and if you use copper as a collector, the ideal is to subject the PGM copper alloy to electrolysis, reuse the electrolytic copper and the PGMs remain as black powder to be refined in the bottom of the electrolytic tank, the excessive use of NaO in the flux can involve losses of Pt, the highest production cost is in the flux, sodium borate is not cheap. Congratulations for the job!!
I really dont know what the heck is going on ,but i love the the melted colours and stuff ,thanks jason.
Using chemistry for precious metal recovery.
I have a clue but still lost. I know the chemicals but not the chemistry or techniques. I'm use to slapping metals in a forge and making bars.
I like it to if only you could paint a car with it
Some of those have Rhodium. Palladium will be highest content then platinum then rhodium. (Generally). Converters have different amounts of metal depending on the motor they were used on.
The honeycomb is called the substrate.
You don’t want that. All you want is the coating on the substrate. that’s where the metal is. The slurry coats the substrate. If you can find a way to get just the coating off the substrate, you will greatly reduce the effort and starting material. (Crushed up substrate is just more waste you have to remove.). That’s about as much as I can tell you without fear of Loosing my job.
I won't tell
hello. thanks for your information.
Maybe can you tell something about how posible take out the rhodium from catalyc? thanks thats the main problem for me...
@@szucslorant4115 there's a RUclips video somewhere that shows how to separate rhodium out of solution of aqua regia using zinc, it's a lot like using copper to pull silver out of nitric acid solution, the zinc is more reactive so it prefers the zinc in solution so the rhodium drops out as black powder. I can't remember who it was but it looked like a Russian smelter. Poor quality video but great quality info. But you'd have to separate out the platinum or palladium first, I can't remember if you need to first but there's a way to do that. Or you could just collect spark plugs and go for the iridium 😂
I saw a guy put the whole ceramic in a crucible and melt the entire thing, I guess he had a furnace hot enough to melt ceramic, then poured it into an inverted pyramid mold so all the PGMs sank to the bottom and there was a little silver button at the tip of the pyramid after it cooled and he dropped it out.
This explains the ongoing thefts of sawing off people's catalytic converters!!
I have
You have... sawed off people's cats or you've had yours sawed off?
I'm binge watching this dude. I have no f-ing idea what he is doing but i dig it it a lot.
They used ion-exchange resins to separate the Pt and Rh. The RhCl3 is what came out of the ion-exchange resin column.
You people are smart as hell
Another awesome video, thank you for examining every angle and I personally like the longer videos!
💯 to the channel and your recovery efforts.
Thx. For the knowledge.
damn, why youtube havent suggested any of your videos instead those lame crazy useless videos i get till now? keep up the great work... best wishes.
Inininininibibibibibibobibbi
Right on - excellent experimentation! Keep in mind skin contact and inhalation of platinum salts can lead to bronchitis/asthma and contact dermatitis.
In addition to tantalum, I also noticed some vanadium. Both metals can be used in NOX converters. The converter you used had two distinct sections. Perhaps the upstream section was for NOX and the downstream a typical converter.
I just love watching those convection patterns in the molten stuff. 😍
I always watching you're smelting... For I have some platinum for smelting...tnx for learning jason
A local guy! Glad I found your channel. I'm in Arlington.
Cupellation
a refining process in metallurgy where ores or alloyed metals are treated under very high temperatures &
non oxidizing precious metals remain apart, and the others react, forming slags or other compounds
hey Jason cool video man :) great to see all the skills used in smelting : I won't pretend i know much about this :) but I will say I love watching these type of videos :)
I'm learning as you move along with your process.
I worked at both the Stillwater Smelter & Base Metals Refinery in Columbus Montana. We’d actually smelt down Bulk Bags of Catalyst. The end result was a black powder we sent to Engelhard Refinery for end process. They’d keep the Gold / Silver and we’d get the Platinum/Palladium. I will say we had all the mined metal from the Nye Montana and East Boulder.
After smelting I don't see how it would be a black powder? That is what happens in chemical process. Were you the smelter?
great work dear jason. yes you are. we love your work from Muzaffarabad, AJK, PAKISTAN
use catalytic converters you pulled off yourself, if you buy them from ebay they are usually chemically treated to get all the precious metals out
Hence it being damp
Then whats the point in doing all this if you can just chemically treat it to get it out?
@@thefogisgone3662 the recovery rate is less if you leave it all together. So some jagoff's decides to extract 40% chemically of the metal than sell it at full price.
@@Jdalio5 ohh, fair enough, i have officially been learnt by the youtubes.
you will never get from ebay cleaned ones are empty because those dudes use acids, and since its inside metal tube you cant get it all out, they all on ebay got 30-40% of the initial content left, but yes you better off not pay at all what was in there
I could watch this for days . Great stuff I'm fascinated with this . Great job
Thank you, Jason, for this extensive empirical research. I think this is the best research you can find on you tube. I do not understand this subject, but as you explain everything it all sounds so logical.
Hello Jason, I invite you to Kazakhstan I really like your method. I have a large quartz ore deposit where I get gold for life with the use of (chemical) acids. If you could help me with your method, I would be very happy Regards Odil!
You are very smart and you had this in the basket add the catalytic converters and the Borox start the smelt add silver then add lead
Since there's so little platinum and palladium in each converter, the chemical method with hot aqua regia is usually the best method. You just keep soaking new converter fragments over and over until the reagent is used up.
Then cool the solution quickly, and most of the platinum/palladium just falls out. I found that out by accident when refining some old 10K gold jewelry. Fine grey sediment fell out of the aqua regia as it cooled, and I discovered it was metallic, then confirmed it was indeed platinum-palladium alloy.
I WILL TRY THAT, THANKS!!!
the cooling slag is always mesmerizing
When you pour without collector metal you need to pre-heat the tip of your pyramid mold to red hot otherwise the tip solidifies before the heaviest stuff settles to the tip.
the taguchi method is a good way to investigate problems of multiple variables. because of how it works, unknowns are less of a problem, like iron contamination or whatever from fhe casting vessel, the unexpected presence of tantalum
Good job! Excellent work; I'm happy to have found your channel
I have learned so much from you Jeff and Dough thanks in this time we need this
there is always boiling nitric and hydrochloric acid to dissolve PGMs into solution to separate and get out pure metals
The problem with that is how dangerous PGMs are in solution. Google platinosis. If you don’t have to dissolve PGMs you’re much better off not.
Love all your videos since I found this site I have used several techniques! Great descriptions fabulous RUclips channel best online thanks for taking the time to do so it's beginners like us that would never continue or it not for people like you!
This is more fun than watching steel rust
❤ can't wait to see how you process the beads 🧑🏭
I’ve seen Cody’s lab hit the lead/platinum button with an oxy acetylene torch while its in the cupel to melt the bead and drive off the lead
Agreed oxy/acetyl torch will drive off the last bit. How ever don't blast it for to long oxy/acetyl gets hot enough to vaporize pgm's eventually
@@kieranodea771 I did that once with gold it just suddenly vanished and left a rainbow behind luckily it wasn't much gold
@@jaydaksrules5316 The key is to use around half the oxygen you would normally use. Other wise an oxy/acetylene flame is so hot it will just vaporize gold and pgm's like you said. Especially when in small amount or if its in a finely divided state.
@@jaydaksrules5316 Also you should be able to remove all the lead from gold with normal means with a cupel. Really only pgm's have the issue of needing really high temperature to remove the last bit of lead.
Sreetips chemically refines pgm and then smelts it to nearly 4000 degrees
The whole thing is precious . Small message , Urea neutralize the muraitic acid and the nitric before throwing it away .
At 13:17, there's a sports car on the back side of the cooling pyramid just above the slag line.
Now we know what kind of car left it's spirit in that cat.
porsche
Very cool. These are being stollen in my area. Now I understand why. Thanks man.
Now you can steal it too 🤣🤣
i trust you know exactly what you're doing. still have to say, it pains me to see a 1oz silver buffalo go into a crucible in may when spot was around $16. it almost went to $30 in august!
This is really interesting material. I appreciate the effort you put into providing it. Many thanks!
Lesson number 1: How to profit off all them Converters you stole
That should be the #1 comment for this and any video like this. Great
I just can't help but feel this is just going to help thefts. Way to go. I really hope yours was the first to be stolen.
Excelente video hermano saludos desde HERMOSILLO SONORA MÉXICO
Xlent program, very technical and informative.
hi guy - i work with advanced geopolymer technology which is closely related to glass and ceramic technology. we experiment with different recipes of exacting amounts of secret ingredients. most people studying the technology just use clay out of the ground which is full of impurities. anyways just wanted to mention that quartz (silica) can be compared to ice. Water can only hold so much soluble minerals before getting saturated and then minerals fall out of solution and settle to the bottom. Then when the saturated water freezes the dissolved minerals stay suspended in the ice. this is similar to the smelting recovery process you are using. Molten silica also has a saturation limit. I can see it would be important to have precisely measured ingredients to maximize recovery rates! if too much silica is used then some of the precious metal will be lost (absorbed) into the glass matrix. Good thing the cheap collector metals are probably more soluble in the glass than the precious metals. I wonder if oxidized collector metals could be used such as copper oxide powder instead of copper metal because glass loves to absorb and bond to oxides. the molten silica could get saturated with cheap soluble oxides so that more of the precious metal could fall out of molten solution ??? not really sure. great videos by the way - this is the first time learning about Quepel Technology (i have no idea how to spell it) - much simpler than acid recovery/refining methods!!!
This is an awesome reply. I would’ve never thought of silica absorbing PMs.
And so you can look more into the process, it is spelled Cupel (Cupelling).
I’m learning more about it myself. I have a lot of waste material that might contain PT group metals, so planning on trying the cupelling process to recover those.
I ABSOLUTLY LOVE THESE VIDEOS DUDE!!!!!
I worked at a platinum mine and we used silver as the collector metal its cheap enough to be viable and you don't have to bother with the coupelling
Know anyone buying Pt orem I got a couple of ton s of it. All silver or Pt
How do you know where it's at? I mean you just pick a spot and test dig or is there a way to find it then mine it. I know I can Google it but I'm old school I like to learn shit from people who do it, not just say whatever is standard. Thank you
@@kitjasabsgabs1830 gotta pretend to be a nugget
@@aaronlegend14 🤣
8:17 the original lava lamp! Cool video!
In terms of using an automotive catalyst- assuming the mass of the base catalyst matters relative to how much PGM recovery you expect- I would suggest only doing the first catalyst. Generally, they will have 5x the amount of platinum or palladium in them vs. the second one. Again, finding automotive catalysts from PZEV vehicles in the 2000-2007 range will the highest potential of all PGM. After some control work, OEM's figured out how to manipulate the air-fuel control to not require the high PGM loadings of the original PZEV cars.
Also- all of the gasoline catalysts in the last 30 years are all 3 way catalysts. The first one will do the vast majority of the work, the second one is there for high mass flow (like when you accelerate on a freeway).
I know nothing about industrial catalysts- so it will be interesting to see your experiment.
Just as a note from an old metalworker, they are not called 'bigger hammers', they are 'Precision Calibrators', the bigger they are, the more precise
Excellent experiments, thank you for sharing.
I am going through these chemistry puzzles too. They have the answers but they keep them secret when this should be for all to know. Have Royalty system for a time in commercial applications.
Take care friend. Platinosis cutaneous and respiratory allergic reactions to exposure to complex salts of platinum. Use mask and gloves!
He isn't making salts so he is fine but more like when oxidizes lead is more dangerous
I used to be the head guy in charge of catalyst in a factory. Dodge and aftermarket converts are made from the same low metal content junk catalyst. We had stacks of 55 gallon drums of catalyst powder that I had to inventory everyday and keep behind lock and key. The only problem was workers like to pee in the powder durning production instead of walking like a quarter mile trip to the restroom.
Somehow I don't think that was the only problem.
Sulfuric electrolyte with metal foil as anode, metal plated over to cathode loosens precious metals wash coat which falls to the bottom of the cell.
Nice to see you back on the tube.hay hay from mt st helens
these vids are great, keep up the good work
That was interesting, my first time seeing the process😃😃 THANKS
It's the same cat that came on my 98 Honda Civic EX coupe they're worth about $300 if you know the right people but $60 from a normal junkyard
But it cost only 6$ in country junk yard, it's a hidden golden business
@@Handstruckgroupbut the actual value of recovered PT metals are only 300$ and after substracting used chemicals it's 150$
It does help to talk out loud. You get good feedback
The XRF gun can sometimes get confused, so the tantalum might actually be your platinum. I've seen gold show as lead and tungsten on XRF guns before, so they aren't always 100% correct
Yep. they need to know what theyre working with to properly understand what the returning xrays mean.
Yup. The signals generated from tantalum and platinum have a major feature in common (both signals have a big spike at 9.4 keV). It's similar for gold and tungsten (both have a big spike at 9.7 keV). Where the signals are similar they can be confused, so for best results, XRF software needs to have an idea of what is expected to be in the sample (this is why you get different versions for base metal analysis and precious metal analysis).
catch22frubert yep, codyslab almost always displays 100% pure gold as a tungsten peak. The amount of overlap between element peaks can be huge especially for pgms
That's the fake gold the US made to pay debt to other country I forget which one. 😉
I cannot judge if this was a success. But I definatelly enjoyed the video! Cheers!!
I used to buy junk cars for a large junkyard in Southern California and some of the accounts that I had would take out the original catalytic converter‘s and put an aftermarket that were only worth about nine bucks. But the ones that were original could be anywhere from $60-$350 depending on the car. I know Mercedes-Benz & bmw in some of the older years or worth the most as a Honda accord was around 100 bucks. So if there’s buying these things up at those prices there Has to be a lot more value in them. And the guys taking them off Are the first guys in the chain you still need the middleman and the refinery need to make money
Ford f250s and prius, lambos have the most
Good info for all the cat thieves, thanks
You mean cat burglars
@mbmmllc
The tantalum came from inside the engine.
There's no platinum cause it was burnt off before the palladium was during vehicle use (wear and tear).
There will always be a lower recovery on a used catalytic converter. The precious metals are coated on the ceramics, as it is in use (vehicle being driven) these precious metals are coming off and blowing in the road..BUT on a diesel semi truck the precious metals are being stored within the soot and collected above in the collector container.. on average those containers hold 2-3 oz's of particulate matter. This particulate matter holds more precious metals then on the used cones you are experimenting with.
I have several pounds if you'd like to try a few samples.. let me know.
I believe there are more precious metals in the particulates of the soot/ash of a diesel semi truck than in a used ceramic cone.
Precious metals are sintered on the outside surfaces of the cones. As soot from the engine attaches to the cones (containing oils and other metals) they get super hot and almost sinter to the cones themselves. This soot/ash goes thru a super heat process of around 3200 f degrees during the regeneration process (cleaning process) and release these materials ..right along with the precious metals.
Trying doing what you do with diesel soot/ash... I bet your results are higher.
I think your probably right
@@dumbnrduh Still wishing I could get help with it.
oh wow so OK your near Mt Baker, cool, Everett Born and Bred, you get that sweet view of the mountain.. nice area
the O2 sensor is high in Pt for a start.
not at all, its a very very very tiny plate on it contains pt/pd, most computer boards have more pt than o2 sensors
Tantalum I noticed appears when you shot the silver bead, and that makes since because it is a transition medal also Ra too. They both came with the silver and copper. The copper I assume wasn't pure and was from wire scrap. Both Ra and Ta are contaminants from the coin and scrap wire.
The honeycomb stuff as you call it is primarily made from high ceramic grade talc with natyrally occurring asbestos content, yep the stuff that causes asbestosis so I hope you guys who venture into this endeavour feel the need to wear appropriate PPE and decontamination clothing and showers but that's your choice
not something I am likely to do, but it is neat to watch. Especially watching the flux cool!
Why not take a cat, and do two completely different recovery methods? Like chemical vs smelt, just to see what kind of losses you might recover from either method. Admittedly it is interesting to see someone do the smelting rather than chemical.
So that's where my Cat went!!!!
Ag has a lower melting point than Cu, better helping to lower the m.p. of your alloy.
25:22 - It's useful to place the metals with higher m.p.s on top, as they will melt last, while the heat from the Ag rises. Also, their higher densities will help push down on the Silver.
More cost efficient to use Ag shot, than melting a coin? Haha. Whatever works!
Will be Interesting to see which of your formulas produces the best yield. Cheers.
Am I the only one that thinks watching it cool is relaxing?? Lol
I could be wrong but I believe the Prius has the most platinum in the cat.
You are right thy do
@@CALIBUNDLEZ707 that explains why all the Prius cats are getting cut in my neighborhood 😆
That came off a Honda Pilot
They do! I sold my bad Prius cat for $800. They have some of the most in it. But that cat in the video looks like a Honda Odyssey van.
@@osamamingo8205 could’ve came off alot of Honda’s lol
Oh I had an idea for your cone molds, you should make an overflow slit and put a second mold on the ground to catch any overflow metal so less waste
I saw the title of this video and I just imagined Cody's lab
It’s called a Honda O2 Slant and yes because it is slanted on the o2 sensor. Value is around $600-800 but is dependent on current market values. The highest end Honda O2 is the Honda O2 Straight, the O2 sensor will be straight out the side with 4 fins below and 2 fins above the O2 sensor, fins located on heat shield. That would be valued from 800-1100 dependent on market value and are found on Honda accords 2000-2002. I’ve seen that high value converters can range from $500-$2000 for one converter unit, price will always vary with daily market changes. Knowing market fluctuations for platinum, palladium and rhodium and knowing the valuable cats and especially knowing how to handle your material properly with little loss and high recovery, will give you the greatest success in keeping your profit margins the highest they can be. The loss of value through handling of biscuit material, 5% loss through air born dust alone and if it is an end of life converter, the value could be dropped by 10-20% with that alone as well. Wet and damp or oily biscuit will greatly affect your value and how much you pay for loose biscuit material if you are processing and sending loose biscuit to a smelter. Use respirators when handling material because breathing in airborn dust is dangerous and possibly deadly if built up in lungs. Be safe, be legit and make money baby!
I love how his cat. was sawed off, not gracefully unbolted.
...really good video though.
You know salvage yards cut them out and don’t unbolt them too?
@Brian Baff I’m a toyota tech and I can tell you haven’t worked on many cars that come from cold states
@Brian Baff I'm planning to put silicone rubber over the bolt heads, and wrap the exhaust path and catalytic converter in used tire cable chains, with a couple superficial welds along the way to keep everything solidly in place. I know this is not unstoppable, but I would imagine that this would make it an unpleasant job to remove for a would be thief. You guys think this will be effective? 2010 Prius.
@Brian Baff I looked at this, as far as I can tell it's only for 2nd generation Prius. I could probably build one by cutting out a piece of aluminum, but it would be a bunch of work.
Hi. When you are smelting gold ore. Put in some Borax and hard wood ash and some crush glass.
About $87 at today’s Palladium price. I thank you might be loosing some metal somehow. I really think Chemical extraction is your best bet. Maybe that’s why everyone on the Internet is doing chemical extraction.
no company extract professionally use chemical, zero of the big refiners do, chemical at best you get 92% of pt and pd with smeling up to 98%
@@frankyshh6827 so most companies dont use chemicals?
You can just part the pd/pt if your using Cu as the collector , drop your copper out with iron and go to salt with the pd. You are correct with time and temp curves at the end of your vid and that applies to cupellation as well . Crack that door on your table top , gotta have O2 for proper cupellation. Hit and run , close door to ramp up and crack the door and coast. Another tip is if you believe your loosing precious through copper soaking of the cupel , you will see what's known as feathering. To avoid this , bypass cupellation and just part the prill.
Can you say that in English?
Platinum and palladium must be denser than ceramic because they're metal you ever think to put The crucible and the molten material on some sort of vibrating table to make it all settled to the bottom one bead instead of 11 million
Sorry watching this video made me late for my lawyer's appointment got to go guys thanks for the video
Excelente Vídeo...
Great work done , very much helpful , Big Thanks
This was a great experimental video.
I now know what not to do.
Excellent work thank you it’s a long and extensive process not easy at all