Process for providing noble metal-containing mixtures for recovering noble metals

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9169536-B2
Application number	US-201214111416-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2012
Priority date	Apr 13, 2011
Publication date	Oct 27, 2015
Grant date	Oct 27, 2015

Abstract

The invention relates to the provision of noble metal-containing mixtures for a process for processing them by heating the mixture, preferably for processing them by means of an ashing process. This provision is characterized by the following measures: (a) moistening of the noble metal-containing mixture to be processed, (b) introduction of the moistened noble metal-containing mixture into at least one container which serves as diffusion barrier for water, and (c) introduction of the loaded container into a heat-resistant chamber together with at least one upper refractory mat. The noble metal-containing mixture is preferably moistened in the presence of a porous material and the chamber is closed by means of a heat-resistant covering. The invention further provides a processing process comprising the provision of noble metal-containing mixtures and also the heat-resistant chamber loaded with noble metal-containing mixtures itself. The process of the invention enables simple, clean recovery of noble metals in high yield from noble metal-containing mixtures.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures for a process for processing noble metal-containing mixtures by heating the mixture, wherein the provision comprises:
moistening of the noble metal-containing mixture to be processed, wherein the noble metal-containing mixture has a total water content in the range from 5 to 80% by weight,
introduction of the moistened noble metal-containing mixture into at least one container to form a loaded container, wherein the at least one container serves as a diffusion barrier for water,
introduction of the loaded container into a heat-resistant chamber together with at least one upper refractory mat, wherein the at least one upper refractory mat covers the loaded container.

2. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , which further comprises closure of the chamber by means of a heat-resistant covering.

3. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , wherein the process for processing the noble metal-containing mixtures is ashing.

4. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , wherein the noble metal-containing mixture contains organic noble metal compounds, inorganic noble metal compounds, elemental noble metals or mixtures thereof.

5. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , wherein the noble metal-containing mixture contains elemental metal or metal compounds of one or more metals from the group consisting of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, osmium, iridium, platinum and gold.

6. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , wherein the noble metal-containing mixture is blended with a porous material before being introduced into the container which serves as diffusion barrier for water.

7. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 6 , wherein a proportion of the porous material is in the range from greater than 0 to 70% by weight based on the total weight of the mixture without water loading.

8. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 7 , wherein the proportion of the porous material is in the range from greater than 0 to 60% by weight based on the total weight of the mixture without water loading.

9. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 6 , wherein an inorganic material from the group consisting of sodium aluminosilicate, bentonite, zeolite, alumina, expanded clay and cat litter is used as porous material.

10. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 6 , wherein an organic, carbon-containing material from the group consisting of activated carbon, wood charcoal, filter charcoal and sawdust is used as porous material.

11. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , wherein the container serving as a diffusion barrier for water consists of plastic.

12. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 11 , wherein the plastic serving as a diffusion barrier for water is polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP).

13. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , wherein the container loaded with the mixture is located on at least one lower refractory mat in the heat-resistant chamber.

14. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 13 , wherein the upper and/or a lower refractory mat, on which the container loaded with the mixture is loaded, is a fibre mat composed of glass wool, rockwool or other ceramic insulation materials.

15. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , wherein the heat-resistant chamber is made of corrosion-resistant steel.

16. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 15 , wherein the heat-resistant chamber is made of chromium-nickel steel with additions of molybdenum.

17. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 1 , wherein the heat-resistant chamber has one or more optionally closable ventilation openings.

18. Process for processing noble metal-containing mixtures, wherein the process comprises heating the noble metal-containing mixture prepared according to claim 1 .

19. Process according to claim 18 , wherein the noble metal-containing mixture being heated is heated to temperatures in the range from 600 to 1050° C.

20. Process according to claim 18 , comprising recovering one or more of the noble metals ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, osmium, iridium, platinum or gold.

21. The process according to claim 20 , wherein the recovery of one or more of the noble metals is achieved by ashing and without any wet chemical step.

22. Loaded heat-resistant chamber comprising:
at least one moistened mixture of a noble metal-containing mixture and porous material accommodated in at least one semi-permeable container which serves as a diffusion barrier for water,
at least one upper refractory mat which covers the semi-permeable container filled with the mixture.

23. Loaded heat-resistant chamber according to claim 22 , which further comprises a heat-resistant covering for closing the chamber.

24. Loaded heat-resistant chamber according to claim 22 , which further comprises at least one lower refractory mat on which the container containing the mixture is located in the heat-resistant chamber.

25. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures for a process for processing noble metal-containing mixtures by heating the mixture, wherein the provision comprises:
moistening of the noble metal-containing mixture to be processed,
blending of the noble metal-containing mixture with a porous material,
introduction of the noble metal-containing mixture into at least one container to form a loaded container, wherein the at least one container serves as a diffusion barrier for water,
introduction of the loaded container into a heat-resistant chamber together with at least one upper refractory mat.

26. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 25 , wherein a proportion of the porous material is in the range from greater than 0 to 70% by weight based on the total weight of the mixture without water loading.

27. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 26 , wherein the proportion of the porous material is in the range from greater than 0 to 60% by weight based on the total weight of the mixture without water loading.

28. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 25 , wherein an inorganic material from the group consisting of sodium aluminosilicate, bentonite, zeolite, alumina, expanded clay and cat litter is used as porous material.

29. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures according to claim 25 , wherein an organic, carbon-containing material from the group consisting of activated carbon, wood charcoal, filter charcoal and sawdust is used as porous material.

30. Provision of noble metal-containing mixtures for a process for processing noble metal-containing mixtures by heating the mixture, wherein the provision comprises:
moistening of the noble metal-containing mixture to be processed,
introduction of the moistened noble metal-containing mixture into at least one container to form a loaded container, wherein the at least one container serves as a diffusion barrier for water and consists of plastic,
introduction

Assignees

• Zimmermann Klaus
• Hartmann Robert
• Kinz Oswald
• Grehl Matthias
• Umicore Ag & Co Kg

Inventors

• Zimmermann Klaus
• Hartmann Robert
• Kinz Oswald
• Grehl Matthias

Classifications

• C22B11/021 Primary

  Recovery of noble metals from waste materials · CPC title

• Y02P10/20

  Recycling · CPC title

• Y02W30/54

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F23G7/003

  for used articles · CPC title

• F23G7/008

  for liquid waste (waste oil F23G7/05, waste liquors F23G7/04, sludges F23G7/001) · CPC title