Demand for rare earth and precious metals is expected to continue to increase into the future at a time when primary sources are decreasing in quality and accessibility. There is also widespread recognition today of the lower environmental impacts and the improved social corporate responsibility outcomes associated with recovering metals from wastes when compared with primary sources. Set against this backdrop, therefore, it is hardly surprising that secondary sources of rare earth and precious metals have been growing in importance for many years.
Tetronics’ patented DC plasma arc technology offers a proven track record of resource recovery from a wide range of discarded materials at both commercial and pilot plant scale, as a result of its ability to separate valuable metals and minerals from the waste material while simultaneously destroying hazardous species and maintaining excellent environmental performance.
This paper will present details of Tetronics’ DC plasma arc technology and how this has been applied to a range of industrial, metallurgical and urban wastes for the recovery of nickel, copper, cobalt, gold and platinum group metals. This will include plant operating details that show how plasma smelting has been used for the commercial recovery of precious metals and platinum group metals from automotive, petrochemical and industrial catalysts and from electronics waste. Meanwhile, it will be shown how the experience of more than two decades of base metal recovery from steel plant wastes is also being used to extract nickel and other base metals and rare earth from industrial catalysts. These details will include flow sheets, material recovery rates, plant operating parameters and environmental performance indicators.

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