Processing

Stage 1 – Collections

The used or end-of-life catalytic converter are collected from service garages, Exhaust fitting station, car dismantling yard, Recovery drivers, shredder of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap or a scrap collector.

As Collectors in spent catalytic converters Refine Metals take it upon themselves to go to all these points, collect and return the old units to our warehouse, ready for decanning.. Refine Metals performs its own collection in most areas.

Stage 2 – Decanning

The decanning of catalytic converters is opening the converters in order to separate the brick from the steel. This is done in our warehouse using a hydraulic shear.

Stage 3 – Weighing, sampling and assaying

The broken ceramic is then grounded, weighed and we are now able to take a sample ready for assaying to obtain a general report informing us on the PGM content. The ceramic is now ready for refining.

Stage 4 – Refining

The grounded ceramic is subjected to a sequence of mechanical and chemical procedure to recover the small amounts of platinum (Pt), Palladium (Pd) and Rhodium (Rh). These precious metals are then sold back into the global market and re-used. The benefits from recycling is that it is good for the environment as there is less pressure on the mines for new virgin material.