Platinum Metals Review - Volume 17, Issue 4, 1973

Since the initial development of the gold-palladium catchment gauze system for platinum recovery in 1968 considerable practical experience has been obtained. The optimism expressed at that time proved to have been well founded, recovery figures in excess of 60 per cent of the gross platinum losses having been regularly obtained. Some initial problems with the mechanics of installation have now been overcome and this article describes the practical aspects of the recovery system and its effect on the economics of the ammonia oxidation process.

Extensive investigations of the high temperature strength and ductility of a number of platinum and palladium alloys have not yielded a successful replacement for the rhodium-platinum alloys so widely used in applications involving high stress, although they have indicated several alloys with economic possibilities at intermediate temperatures.

The first part of this article described methods for the preparation and characterisation of evaporated alloy films containing one or more platinum metals. Their use in catalyst research has provided new examples of the variation of catalytic activity with alloy composition and the formation of unexpected reaction products. Various secondary factors which might be involved in determining the activity of alloy catalysts have also been demonstrated in recent work with alloy films.