UNDERSTANDING THE CATALYTIC CONVERTERS RECYCLING INDUSTRY
Innov X Africa • September 20, 2021
Measuring Catalytic converters with the Olympus, VANTA, handheld XRF analyser for those precious metals, such as Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium. Measuring the Catalytic converter honeycomb is an essential part of the catalytic recycling process, as the cost of the catalytic will be determined by the precious metal’s concentration. The Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium is added as a dipcoat, which is used to reduce harmful gas emissions into the atmosphere.
The increase in value for these
precious metals over the past 8 years is fuelled by demand from the automotive manufacturing industry. While South Africa holds more than 80 percent of global PGM reserves, the
catalytic recycling still plays an important role, in assuring that the reserves are not depleted in the near future. The catalytic converter recycling industry currently provides 40% of the Precious Metals used during manufacturing stages.
6 EASY STEPS FOR CATALYTIC RECYCLCING
- Upon receiving the catalytic converter, the honeycomb will be covered by a Ferrous metal. This ferrous metal usually has some value to it, as it is usually a Stainless Steel, but can also be Aluminium or Nickel. You can measure the housing with the same XRF analyser using the Alloy calibration to positively identify this material, which will generate more profit. However, this ferrous housing will have to be removed in order to get to the Precious Metals coated honeycomb.
- Once you have removed the catalytic converter honeycomb from the ferrous housing, the honeycomb will have to be crushed and prepared for XRF analysis with the Olympus VANTA.
- XRF Sample preparation can be done in many forms such as, using a Pestle and Mortar crushing bowl, electrical crushers and grinding mills and many more.
- When the Catalytic Converter honeycomb has been crushed to a fine powder, you can place some of the powder into a plastic sample cup. The sample cup is then covered with mylar film, as to ensure that the powder does not fall out of the cup, when turned upside down.
- The sample cup with the prepared sample is placed on the Olympus VANTA XRF analyser, and an XRF analysis of approx. 60seconds is performed by pressing the trigger. Something to keep in mind, when using any Handheld XRF, the longer the testing time, the better the accuracy.
- The easy-to-read results will display the elements on the left-hand side and the percentage or parts per million on the right. With these results you can accurately sort various catalytic converters with the same quantities into one bag for exporting purposes.
Why choose Olympus VANTA for Catalytic Recycling?
Using reference samples, verified by laboratories, Olympus have created a specific Catalytic converter calibration. With this catalytic converter calibration successfully being used throughout the world, you can always expect only the best precision as the calibration takes into account, most peak overlaps and the actual ceramic honeycomb matrix effects on the XRF analysis.
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“There has been plenty written and spoken about Eskom and load shedding in South Africa and sadly the situation is not getting better in any way at all. The situation has had some sort of effect on every single South African and those that visit our country. One of the few positives to come out of the debacle is the growth in the industry of the manufacturers, suppliers and service providers that provide solutions for keeping the power on so that homes and businesses can continue to function. It is almost like the security industry in South Africa – industries have been created for all the wrong reasons,” said Stuart Bateman, Managing Member of Innov-X Africa. “Another outcome is that it has accelerated the move into green energy where many are using the sun to keep the lights on. South Africa’s power supply issues go as far back as 2007. They are not a new phenomenon – they just got worse.” “Energy security – not just electricity supply – threatens the sovereignty of the country. Shortages of liquid fuels, oil and gas are also proving to be big challenges for South Africa. Due to other problems in the world, importing liquid fuels is not sustainable. In addition, some of the country’s big refineries will soon shut down to avoid costly refurbishments and upgrades to comply with the latest environmental legislation and stipulated minimum emissions standards. These developments are not helping the country.” “For the current energy challenges, South Africa must respond and adopt similar disaster-management strategies as those used to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is time to acknowledge that we have gone past the crisis stage in our energy challenges and we are now in a state of energency.” “At least there are now schedules of when the power will be turned off in your area and you can organise your life and business around these times. But it does not help if you are off for 10 hours in a day.” “We – Innov-X Africa – like everybody else, have had to take steps to avoid load shedding ruining our business and have decided to move from the office complex in Bedfordview, where we have been located for 13 years, to First Avenue, Dunvegan, which is a suburb that is part of Edenvale, Gauteng.” “We are very pleased that we have made the move because besides investing in a PV solar system and inverter battery that keeps the power on all the time while we are in the office, there are other benefits built-in for our business.” “The new premises are much larger. We have gone from approximately 170m² space to 320m². This gives us the opportunity to setup a professional demo lab that we can also use as a training centre. We are centrally situated so our access from all the industrial areas is relatively easy.” “Of course it also gives more space to increase staff numbers without being on top of each other.” “Innov-X Africa has now been in business for 16 years as the sole distributors for Evident Olympus XRF and XRD equipment and Belec optical emission spectrometers for metal analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa. We supply desktop, portable and handheld XRF analysers of the highest quality and most robust into various industries, such as mining and exploration, alloy and steel, precious metals, recycling and many more.” “We have direct access into these two expert companies in the field of material determination of metals. Applications include foundry metal input, scrap metal recycling, catalytic converter analysis, geochemical analysis, precious metals analysis, positive material identification and catalytic converter recycling, to name a few.” “Other applications include screening for lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), chromium (Cr), and other toxic metals in consumer products such as toys and apparel, to comply with regulations.” For further details contact Innov-X Africa on TEL: 010 006 0430
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