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Reclamation of spent catalysts for the efficient recovery of palladium (Pd) is gaining growing attention due to its scarcity and high supply risk. Currently Pd extraction from spent catalysts through an efficient, economical, and green method has remained a challenge. In this study, Fe3+ is utilized for leaching through oxidation of Pd in a mild condition. Before leaching, distillation was proposed to remove and recover the organics from spent catalysts. The effects of HCl concentration, Fe3+ concentration, NaCl concentration, leaching time, and temperature on the leaching efficiency of Pd were investigated to determine the optimum leaching conditions. The results show that Pd extraction and dissolution of Al2O3 increase with higher HCl concentration. The effect of NaCl on Pd leaching efficiency is significant at low acid concentration (2.0 mol/L HCl). The leaching efficiency was 99.5% for Pd under the following conditions: 2.0 mol/L HCl, 4.0 mol/L NaCl, and 0.67 mol/L Fe3+ at 80 °C for 90 min. The leaching kinetics fits best to the shrinking-core model of surface chemical reaction. The activation energy for the leaching of Pd was 47.6 kJ/mol. PdCl42− was selectively adsorbed by anion exchange resin. The filtrate containing adequate H+, Cl-, and Fe3+ was reused as leaching agent. Pd leaching efficiency was over 96% after five cycle times. This study provides an efficient process for recovery of Pd from spent catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The secondary production of platinum group metals (PGMs) occupies a 30% proportion of the global supply. The iron-capturing recycling technology produces Fe-PGMs alloy, of which PGMs need further enrichment for purification. We applied electrolytic refining method on Fe-PGMs alloy for separating PGMs from iron. Fe-PGMs alloy and titanium plates are used as anode and cathode. The main electrolyte is ferrous sulfate. During electrolysis, iron is electrolytically migrated to the cathode and electrodeposited, while PGMs settle to form anode slime. An appropriate parameters range for electrolysis is potential (0.5–0.8 V), concentration of Fe2+ (1.0–1.5 mol/L), temperature (60–80 °C), pH (3.0–3.5). The impurities like carbon and phosphorous can promote the dissolution of iron in the early electrolysis by expanding the coverage of reaction intermediates adsorbed on the anode surface but will hinder the dissolution and enrichment if forming a film layer. After electrolysis at 0.7 V constant voltage, PGMs were separated from the iron matrix and enriched in the anode slime (85–90%) and residual anode (10–15%). The recovery efficiency reached nearly 100%. Pure iron was prepared on the cathode and the electrolytic liquid can be reused. This electrolytic enrichment process has lower energy consumption, less wastewater, and higher recovery efficiency. • Specific properties of Fe-PGMs alloys were detected. • Appropriate process parameters for electrolysis were determined. • The recovery efficiency of PGMs was nearly 100% by electrorefining. • Enrichment concentration of PGMs was increased by 10 times. • Electrolytic refining consumes lower energy with less wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]