b'40 Catalytic ConvertersConverter Recycling: The BIG Problem With AssayBy Becky Berube load comes in and we destroy it. We Y ou finally made the switchcompletely take it apart. Our goal is to from selling your converters bytell you exactly how many converters the piece to selling them onyou sent in and the average value of assay. And you have found, like most ofeach unit. So, at our plant we balance us have, that it is totally worth it. Yourall weights in and out of processing to average cat sale is up 5-45% dependingone half of one percent (0.5%). That is on how you were being treated by yourour internal tolerance. And we do not buyer.mind telling you. Since we are becom-Now you are in the real game,ing ISO certified, all our workflow refining. Your selling your convertersaligns to this measure and all based on the actual value of the threenonconformities must be investigatedsampled and that means it must be metals contained inside your converters.and resolved before refining. Is thisblended properly and for enough time It is exciting. You are hedging andhappening where you are processingbefore it comes through the sampler and selling metal into the market. Sure, youconverters? goes into the sample preparation lab. may have to wait a little longer for yourDust: If you are missing weight yourThere the primary sample becomes money, but with an early payment andmissing money. smaller and finer and must be blended the balance in 30 - 45 days, you areIf you are missing weight youror homogenized again, and the moisture ahead of the game with more moneymissing money. But if you are missingmust be determined, before it is bottom line. You may even decide todust, you are missing significantly moreanalyzed. This is just for the first hold metal on account like a brokeragemoney. It is the coating of the ceramicanalysis or XRF and it is only plus or account and delay a taxable sale or useor metallic substrate that contains theminus 10% accurate. We do not pay you the account as a savings for futureprecious metals. So, the dust has thebased on XRF. We have this lab and get planned expenditures.highest concentration of the platinumthis reading for quality control. So, we group metals or PGMs. The dust mayknow how many ounces to expect be 1-3% of the weight of the load whilewithin reason and can make an early So, with assay, whatbeing 10-20% of the value. Therefore,payment determination. Do you know if could possibly go wrongwe suggest you let us de-can for you. you are getting paid on XRF? After the count being right, the de-when you are selling oncanning system is paramount to gettingAssaying: There is no short cut to getting paid accurately.science and getting paid onpaid the correct amount. At our plant,A properly collected sample, that is actual metal markets? every shear has its own, very high-end,representative of all your converters in dust collector. Your dust is weighed andyour load, then goes through two more added back to your broken honeycombadvanced scientific processes called So, with assay, what could possiblyor catalyst before being milled andpyro- and hydro- metallurgy or fire go wrong when you are selling onsampled. We do not have one dustassay with chemical dissolution and an science and getting paid on actual metalcollector going to multiple shears,atomic absorption (AA) with an markets? which would break the chain of custodyInductively coupled plasma mass For nearly 30 years we have beenand leave questions as to where yourspectrometry (ICP-MS). Your sample is processing scrap catalytic converters fordust is and who keeps it. Is this true ofsplit 8 ways (some of these are held in refining at United Catalyst Corporation,where you are processing converters?reserve) and is tested this way by more let me explain what can and does goSampling: In-house XRF, a guide, not athan one chemist at different times. The wrong. And, more importantly, how youbasis for final payment. results of multiple assays are sent to the can fix it.Did you know that when you selllab manager and he or she removes the on assay and refining terms that you areoutliers and reports the median or mean Count and Weights: How manysettling on the results of a sample ofas the official assay for settlement units or pounds lost is acceptable?your load? It is true. After de-canningpurposes. Now your processor may In converter processing, everythingthe converters, the catalyst must behave fire assay and an ICP lab in-house begins and ends with weights andmilled into a powder and a representa- and pay you quickly based on the assay counts. The weight of your entire lot,tive sample must be taken to be tested.result they get; however, this is not the converters, pallets, shrink wrap, and all.That sample is only 5-10% of yoursame as being paid on the assay result We begin with the end in mind. BOLmaterial so it had better represent allfrom the refiner or a third-party weights must match. Unit counts mustyour converters. Sampling is science inindependent lab. If I pay you based match what you sent in. We are aand of itself. Every particle in your loadsolely on the assay result that I get disassembly facility which means yourmust have an equal chance of beingwithout a witness or a third-party'