oa Hydrocarbonylation in Platinum Metals Metallurgy

For many years we have been studying the reactions of carbon monoxide with chlorocomplexes of the platinum metals in various solutions, such as hydrochloric acid. These hydrocarbonylation reactions result in the formation of various platinum metals carbonyl complexes. Hydrocarbonylation has been used to extract the platinum group metals from the anode muds which remain after the production of copper and nickel. The processes involved, which are described below, produce no waste and therefore do not require special reagents or apparatus. This makes their use very effective for the metallurgy of the platinum group metals. In this paper we discuss the general results of these investigations and some of their applications, such as in the production of powders and catalysts, for which the hydrocarbonylation process is suitable.