Extracting platinum from catalytic converters

[Lord Refa]

HI, all, I was wondering if it is possible (or worthwhile) to extract the platinum from a vehicle catalytic converter. I have some particles that came out of my catalytic converter when I was trying to remove the tailpipe, many shiny particles under a magnifier with what looks to be dirt and mica? thanks

[salsbury]

It certainly seems like a worthwhile exercise, and probably pretty easy with some strong acid, since Platinum is (I think) one of the almost acid-proof metals. You can likely dissolve everything else and be left with just the platinum. I'll let others confirm and suggest a procedure on this, though.

Interesting story: Last summer (2008), when oil prices and other commodities were all skyrocketing, Platinum rose to somewhere in the $1500-2000/oz price range. The office park I was working in at the time in Redwood City, CA, had a rash of activity where people would come out to their vehicles at the end of the work day and find that their catalytic converters had been hacksawed off of their vehicles! This happened several times, and they eventually posted a security guard at the entrance to check badges before even letting you into the parking lots, and stepped up local security patrols, and increased visits by the Redwood City Police. (Apparently, the thieves preferred Toyota trucks. Perhaps their converters were easiest to reach quickly.)

I no longer work at that office park, but have a friend who has been working there since October, and he reported that they haven't had the security guards posted at the entrance in the time he's been there, so apparently, when the commodities prices plummeted, along with the rest of the economy, it was no longer as cost-effective, and the thefts ceased. (Or maybe just moved on to someplace else.)

I remember reading an old National Geographic from about 25-30 years ago, talking about Platinum, and at the time, they contained about 1/64th of an ounce of Pt per converter. I'm not sure what modern cars contain, but you may be able to get a useful amount out of the old one. Please post your results!

[Lord Refa]

Thanks, Patrick, will do. I had to remove my converter to remove a frozen tailpipe section, in beating it off, this shiny stuff starts coming out, so I put it away in a bottle. To fix the car, Ford required me to return the catalytic converter, and it still cost $500!, without the converter it was closer to $800, so there must be some amount of Pt in there that could be useful as a catalyst in an experiment...