Microwave assisted Platinum recycling

Purification of recycled platinum is a multi-step process of repeated dissolving of the scrap metal, precipitation of Platinum salts and thermal treatment of the salts to obtain a pure metal. As a new process, microwave heating is applied for dissolving platinum as well as for decomposition of the Pt-salts into sponge Platinum metal. The goal of microwave heating is reduction of process time, reduced utilization of chemicals like chlorine and savings on energy consumption. By use of microwave radiation at 2.45 GHz frequency all goals could be achieved. In addition, application of pulsed microwave heating enables tailoring of the Pt-metal morphology.