Caracterização tecnológica de catalisadores automotivos desativados visando o aproveitamento de Pt, Pd e Rh.

The use of automotive catalysts has been increasing in recent decades. With the strict regulations governing the emission of polluting gases, the number of catalysts that are discarded also grows, generating enormous volume of waste, which can be a source for urban mining. The objective of this work is to characterize deactivated automotive catalysts in terms of mineralogical, structural and elemental composition, quantitatively and qualitatively. The analyzes were performed in granulometry by laser diffraction, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope with X-ray energy dispersion spectroscopy (SEM / EDS), Raman spectroscopy and inductive coupling plasma optical spectrometry (ICP-OES). The studied automotive catalyst presented cracks and contaminants such as P, Ca, F, C and S, accentuating the deactivation process. The largest composition identified was cordierite, corresponding to 40.17%. The catalysts of the platinum group identified in the automotive catalyst were, Pd (0.92%), Pt (0.03%) and Rh (0.17%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]