Fundamental Study of Palladium Recycling Using “Dry Aqua Regia” Considering the Recovery from Spent Auto-catalyst

Abstract

AbstractIn this research, a recycling process for palladium using “dry aqua regia,” which consists of iron(III) chloride–potassium chloride, was proposed. Palladium was dissolved in “dry aqua regia,” and the dissolved palladium was recovered by leaching with potassium chloride solution with added ammonium chloride and nitric acid. Palladium was almost completely dissolved in 3 h at 600 K, and the recovery ratio of dissolved palladium was up to 80%. In addition, the dissolution of palladium in coexistence with platinum and the dissolution of platinum-palladium alloy by “dry aqua regia” were also tested. The dissolved palladium and platinum were separated and recovered by solid–liquid separation technique using the difference in solubility of their compounds in potassium chloride and sodium chloride solutions. As a result, pure compounds of each element were recovered. This result suggested the possibility of using “dry aqua regia” for the separation of platinum-group metals. Graphical Abstract