Platinum Metals Review - Volume 11, Issue 1, 1967

Nitric acid production by the oxidation of ammonia on platinum gauzes constitutes one of the world’s major chemical industries. In this article the author outlines some of the principal features of this process, and describes in some detail the chemical reaction taking place at the platinum surface. He also discusses the changes that occur in the gauze leading to metal loss during operation. Handling and repairing the gauzes on a plant site and platinum dust recovery by filters are among other aspects of interest to plant operators with which the author deals.

Since its inception a century and a half ago the firm of Johnson Matthey has played a leading part in the extraction, refining and supply of platinum and its allied metals. To mark this anniversary, Mr McDonald has prepared a full account of the growth of these activities from the days when Percival Norton Johnson established his business, through the early years when the uses of platinum were virtually confined to the laboratory, and on to more recent times when industrial applications are of major importance. In this article the ebb and flow of demand and supply are clearly traced, with Johnson Matthey growing steadily to its present dominant position, jointly with Rustenburg Platinum Mines, as the world’s largest supplier of the platinum metals

The Oxford Inorganic Discussion, an annual meeting sponsored by the Chemical Society and designed to afford an opportunity for inorganic chemists to meet and discuss topics of common interest, was held this year on September 30th. The subject under consideration, metal-ligand reactivity and homogeneous catalysis, was one of obvious interest to those concerned with the chemistry of the platinum group metals.