Sure are a lot of chemists, refiners & safety consultants in the comment section that haven’t made a single video about chemistry, refining or safety in their profile! Way to get it done and put out a great video. Thanks for sharing what you’ve learned.
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I found myself compelled to watch to the very end, just to see what you ended up with (and if you managed not to hurt yourself!). I work for a company that provides software for the big precious metal refiners and recyclers--folks who take in tons and tons of catalytic converters, and folks who refine what those other folks produce. I have toured the plant of at least one major refiner, which was an eye-opening experience. I have had many of the processes explained to me as I observed the giant vats and crucibles and tanks that they are conducted in. But I took enormous satisfaction from seeing the process done in the way you did it--step by step, at home, using materials generally available--sort of. To see a single small beaker of fluid filtered through an ordinary paper filter into a small glass flask on a workbench often has more explanatory value than reams of narrative about industrial-scale operations. Plus it is fun to watch things like dissolving zinc in hydrochloric acid, instead of staring at huge tanks where nothing seems to be happening. I found completely hilarious the nonchalant juxtaposition of industrial-grade respirator, bullet-proof face mask, and Playtex gloves with...cutoffs and flip-flops. Obviously certain areas of the body were more important to protect than others! Anyway, I found the whole thing fascinating and I admire your courage and determination to see it through to the break-even point (I wasn't paying strict attention, but it did not seem to me that there was a profit margin). Obviously you could reduce your up front costs by simply stealing converters out from under parked cars--just kidding. Onward and upward.
Thanks a lot. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. I will be doing platinum group metals again this summer. I will only do them about once a heat but I’m glad you enjoyed it. 👍
I can after trying to get to core myself while pouring sweat and nonstop subliminal tunes in my ear holes " how many licks toget to the center of a lollipop?" 1........2.......💥
Can't believe I watched the whole thing and read this too. Since this is bad for your health, do scientists in a typical job would also have health problems over time?
A very interesting video. I stopped refining PGMs years ago due to safety and them just being a complete PITA to work with. A small piece of advice that was taught to me: When you're adding the zinc be sure to put a cover over the beaker, such as a watch glass, as the bubbling can and does cause some metals to spit out of the top. It can be more than you'd think and when dealing with platinum salts it's best to not have to clean any up. Nowadays I just go for the gold and silver. Everything else just keeps collecting in my stockpot as black sludge and when I get enough I sell it to refiners. I consider it to be waste so even if I don't get a great price for it I figure it's still better than nothing and this way I don't need to worry about putting any effort or risk into refining it.
There is zero need to actially crush the catylist elements. Simply bake them out to remove carbon or oil residue then put in your bucket with chlorine so the acid flows through. A plastic paint mixing tool is great. Brick one or pre-cat has rhodium and platinum, brick 2 has either platinum or palladium or a mix. To process the Pt/Pd cats use acid plus chlorine. For Rh use peroxide plus HCl first, then switch to HCl plus chlorine. Recover using electrolysis, PMs plate on the cathode, and oxygen/chlorine on the anode. When appreciable hydrogen forms on the cathode and solution loses most of its color you are done.🤓
Hi Christopher, You seem like someone who understands these things. That's why I would like to know if the following is correct? (Which chatGPT at least recommends to me). I have half a kilo of thermocouple wire that consists of pure platinum and rhodium. I would like to separate these with aqua regia method. So ChatGPT advise me the following. Mix equal parts of sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid in a suitable container. Add the thermocouple wire to the aqua regia. Let the thermocouple wire sit in the aqua regia for 1 to 2 hours. Remove the thermocouple wire from the solution and rinse it with water. Let the thermocouple wire dry. The remaining material, which now contains platinum, can be further processed. And the thermocouple wire that was taken out is pure rhodium. Is this a correct way? Thx
@@jankobachev4289 the platinum rhodium alloy is usually 90%Pt and 10%Rh. I would alloy your metal with a base metal such as aluminum if it is thicker wire. If it is hair fine skip this step. Disolve the base metal with regular HCl as you would do for preparinh Reiney nickel catalyst. Rinse the pm powder left behind with dilute HCl then disolve what is left or superfine wire using HCl and nitric acid. Most of the rhodium will not disolve, filter the Rh and RhCl2 out. To the remaining solution add dropwise a bit of 10% H2O2, this will precipitate any RhCl2 that may be in solution as a deep red precipitate that looks a lot like vermillion. Stop when there is no reaction or you get a greenish black precitate. Now add a little more HNO3 to it. Any platinum will redissolve, the rhodium will remain as a precipitate. Heat the pooled rhodium with a bit of ammonia or urea to convert to the metal. Filter and keep or disolve this in a minimal amount of concentrated sulfuric acid and plate out on a graphite rod. As for the Pt it can be reduced to metal using urea and sodium metabisulfite in solution with a little heat or you can harvest electronically by plating out similar to RH. 🤓
I didn't find this video, it found me. I'm glad it did, very interesting. It taught me I'm not smart enough, patient enough, and careful enough to be mixing chemicals.
As a professional analytical chemist and former meth cook, this was a nail biter. I admire your dedication to the project and.... strangely... to safety. Totally surprised when I seen the home made fume hood. I believe you have a future in engineering or chemistry... if u survive. Hopefully you avoid the prison time I had to endure. Best of luck. And I advise you read the organic chem lab survival guide if you have not. It has some good techniques and tips that probably would had proved beneficial in your experiment, You filtering from the large container to the 5 gallon buckets will forever haunt me. Chemical spills and splash are no joke. Could mean serious injury, blindness or death. Ps: hope you take this as constructive criticism and doesnt discourage you at all.
Same here. Also as former Meth chef (15+yrs ago) and pt home hobbiest. That pour made me pucker. Specially with the holes in the pants. The entire time I was thinking about the possibile other ways this process could be easier/safer/faster. But not to knock this guy. Helleva job and dedication sir. I watched the entire video. I was also admiring the homemade fume hood. Nice! @tjGreene1900 curious how you got into professional analytical chemistry? I'd love to get into the chemistry field. Currently working for global F300 company. Unfortunately nothing to do with chemistry. Cheers again to new owner of PGM. You definitely intriged me.
Hi TJ, You seem like someone who understands these things. That's why I would like to know if the following is correct? (Which chatGPT at least recommends to me). I have half a kilo of thermocouple wire that consists of pure platinum and rhodium. I would like to separate these with aqua regia method. So ChatGPT advise me the following. Mix equal parts of sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid in a suitable container. Add the thermocouple wire to the aqua regia. Let the thermocouple wire sit in the aqua regia for 1 to 2 hours. Remove the thermocouple wire from the solution and rinse it with water. Let the thermocouple wire dry. The remaining material, which now contains platinum, can be further processed. And the thermocouple wire that was taken out is pure rhodium. Is this a correct way? Thx
Thanks for your time showing us the process and time it takes to get this metal out the cats. So much time invested that it’s not worth messing with this things. Now we know why some cats are worth a fortune.
Good job overall. You suffered the most losses in the melt. The proper procedure for the Pd and Pt salts is to slowly roast them which will convert the salts to elemental metal. Putting the high heat right on the salts vaporizes the salts and there can be extremely big losses. The same thing happens with silver chloride although that's converted to elemental silver differently.
Thanks, interesting video. I think something that we can all agree on is that doing this kind of extraction is dangerous and not worth the risk. I appreciate your investment in time.
As an engineer, I thought your video was great! You showed how to use chemicals and processes to pull metals out of the ceramic in a catalytic converter. Very cool! Many years ago, I was in the jewelry industry. We used a rhodium solution to plate white gold and sometimes platinum jewelry. At that time, the rhodium plating solution was expensive, but now it's crazy expensive! I was thinking that you could've sold the rhodium solution as an electroplating solution to the jewelry industry vs selling it as a piece of metal. Just a thought. One final observation. When adding a strong chemical to a strong solution, don't do it from the container (pour the amount you need into a flask or beaker first). You don't want to be holding a bottle full of a chemical that begins to react from the fumes coming from the solution below.
Some of those cats look like they may be low grade or aftermarket. Always keep that in mind . I just bought 4 from 2000 v8 silverados that are VERY valuable. Learn to find the numbers and check the apps or a scrapper you trust.😊 thanks for the VID!!!!
Got tired of filtering and waiting...bought a centrifuge on Ebay for $30.00 Now using 50ml tubes x 4 at a time. I can spin down 200ml at a time and get clean ppt in 10 minutes or less.
Wow. Had no idea the process was so complicated. No wonder the value of these are so high, the breakdown, even at an industrial or commercial level is high. Learned a lot from this. Won’t be attempting any of it.
On your acetylene/oxy torch you need to open the oxygen more until the flame is blue. Open the oxy gently. If it pops and the torch goes out, you went too far or suddenly. When it's a red flame like that it's not as hot and put off soot and takes much longer to do anything requiring heat. Good video
We have ourselves another welder.. 😆 I was thinking the same thing. I remember filling paper cups with gas and hitting it wit torch for a load bang. Dumb things we do when we're younger. Have a good day Thanks for video
Total weight of yield is far lower than it should be actually. color of rhodium indicate mix metals. get it XRF and possibly will need to re dissolve & precipitate pure Rhodium. Over all Great work done , i really appreciate. Good luck
Thanks for the video and all the time you spent producing it. I thought I was just going to open the CAT and take out the little ball of metal. 😂 🤣 😆 😹 . Had no idea I would have had to do all this work. Thanks again...I'll just sell it as is.
So intrigued I had to watch until the end. Pretty amazing stuff and the entire process was very cool to see. Thanks for sharing your fun project. Glad you came out ahead too!
Whey to much work for a break even project. A interesting idea though. Thank you. I can’t hardly wait for the next episode to pop up. Yeah I know how to get to your other episodes but sometimes I like to see what comes next. Thanks again Ron
@ +/- 38min: "Fluffier"???Hmmm, fluffy metals? Is that a metallurgical science term? Lolz. 😉 On a more serious (and polite) note, I like your fume cabinet desig, did I miss you mention how you made that, and from what? I like your idea and it looks like i can use it without much modification as an exhaust system for my guitar finishing booth. The only thing that might be added is a filtration system of some sort. Care to share some quick details with me? Thanks in advance for any help.
If you want to save some money on cutting wheels and drill bits, look up Bad Dog Tools. They sell them at a very premium price, but they are backed by an unconditional lifetime warranty. No matter how they get damaged, even if it's purely your fault, they will replace them. It's a small investment, but you will never buy another cutoff wheel or drill bit. If you want to do this again, first, wear protective clothing, those shorts and denim jeans weren't doing anything to protect you. Second, drill a hole towards the bottom of your barrel, and install a brass ball valve to make draining A LOT safer. You can also attach valves to the bottom of your 5 gallon buckets.
Thank you for the video. I love to learn and you did an excellent job with the safety and description. Next can you show how to salvage from computers.
hands down best part is wearing sandels when torching 2900 degrees of of molten rhodeium this had me going cuz i do the same thing lol (well not melting precious metals but u know what i ment).
Long yes, but interesting, thank you! BTW do you think that shorts and sandals are oxy-acetylene torch safety equipment ? Can you imagine spill that 2700 degrees hot metal pouring on (or maybe through) your foot? And those jeans... seems like you care about your eyes and lungs. But knees - who needs them right? Lets pour a barrell full of acid from meter high it will be fun as hell. :)
excellent video!! congratulations, I am encouraged to remember the reactions, it is difficult to recognize the steps, just add a little of this to precipitate the other, or have it in the liquid solution, to obtain the good result. It is the alchemy that many seek to obtain performance. Today we ignore the magnitude that we do to the environment, I felt attacked when I visited a gold plant in my country when I saw a huge beach of waste. In the oil and gas industry similar in other respects. Then I'm trying to do alchemy for beers, if I don't have a yield at least I can drink it in my garage... regards
But seriously how easy would it be to get platinosis from this process? Like a drop on your skin or a bunch on your skin? Just breathing a little of the fumes or requires long term breathing of the fumes? Pretty cool vid!
Really great video man, the best I found right now. I guess maybe this kind founfdry process made you lost a little bit of metal. I enjoyed watching it. Good job!!
Reminds me of me, there's a fine line between genius and insanity... I use that line as a jump rope just to amuse myself watching people's reactions. I have a feeling he might have done this a time or two. 🤪 (Jokingly submitted)
Rhodium has made a come back from the 15,000$, that it had dropped down to from a high topping $ 30,000, I think it now back up over 20,000$ USD,crazy to think that a kilo of rhodium is over $ 475,000 great video
dont forget- you had alot of initial expenses that you need to incorporate into the next so many jobs. Like the mapp and torch gas. you didnt use it all on this one time. also- the torch gases are refillable, so no need to buy tanks again- just the cost to get them refilled- which is alot less. so by you having a profit, right out of the gate, is a good thing because your profit margin from here on out will be higher. good job!
Hello Hello From Canada!!! Thank you for doing so much work and sharing this experiment us. I think you could make a load of money if you found vehicles "free to a good home" on marketplace and harvesting all the parts for later processing. Not only catalytic converters have the precious metals. Crushing up electronic components and circuit boards can net gold or copper as well. I think there would have been a better yield if you had pulverized the materials before adding the chemicals.
Don’t know if anyone said it yet but take the hose and fill it with water. Plug the end going to the filter and quickly put the other end down into the solution. Unplug the filter end and boom syphoning solution!
Here is a good video bro keep it up. To show this knuckle heads not to steel catalytic converters and understand it's not easy money and should be thinking about getting a. JOB
that's an interesting process (I like science and chemical reactions). I think you should use distilled water to avoid dust when you put out the core of the filters, maybe soak it before removing it. after, you can crush the blocks into a fine powder, and process it like you did.
been interesting watching the steps you take, when i am making fire works and shells i have to be very exact on weight, once you have a large bowl/beeker with a solution do you weight the container to get the correct amount of tin or zinch by a formula to get the reaction you looking for.?
Awesome video, I think wherever you bought the Cat's they sold you aftermarket cat's and they probably knew the price ahead of what it would cost after all said and done, Like other comments there are Cat converters worth 3- $400, my pickup truck original Cat scrapped for $180, I found out later that it was worth a lot more the scrap yard was ripping people off, but anyways I replaced it with an aftermarket cat, when the aftermarket cat **** the bed, it scrapped for $50, so you need to be careful who you're buying your cats from unless you know what you're getting, people at the scrap yard can look at the Cat and tell you if it's an original or aftermarket, so if you can study the difference between aftermarket and original cat when you're purchasing them you can make a lot more money after refining them. They probably knew what the payoff would be after all was said and done that's my opini. looking forward to some of your other video. be safe.👍✌
Wow, very cool video. It was long, sure, but it kept my attention, because I wanted to see the whole process. This is typically how it goes I find, for extracting metals small scale. Like getting hold off computer parts. By the time you're done with chemicals etc. You pretty much break even. It looks like so much when it's raw, then less as powder, but still impressive looking. Then when you melt it, it's just a tiny bit, lol. But that tiny bit, still made you a little profit. Man, rodium is worth a lot. I was expecting it to not be worth as much, but it's worth the most and there's so little.
My only suggestion would be to use a different tip on that oxy/acet torch. If you must use that cutting torch, stay off the cutting handle and dial that flame back to a softer, quieter flame.
New viewer here. Your video just showed up in my UA-cam timeline so I thought I'd have a look....1 hour and 18 minutes later and I'm still here!! This was a fascinating view into what it takes to actually separate out some of the different chemicals in "everyday" objects, at home & without the benefit of a professional laboratory! Well done, Sir!⁹ You may have only made a small "profit" on the exercise but I suspect that wasn't the point. You seem to have really enjoyed the process and despite having a full time job you managed to keep your experiment going for over a month! The look on your face, and the tone of your voice were priceless when you realised that you were actually going to produce Rhodium! I have subbed to your channel and will have a look at your other videos. You can count me as impressed!!
Oh man. That's an A+ for effort. I really enjoyed watching the process. But as far as value? I really wish it was there. Hold onto the metals until the value rises again. I know I didn't have to tell you that. I'm just rooting for the win for ya. 👍
It was a magnificent job that you did. If this process is not as profitable, how is it possible that people continue to steal catalytic converters from cars? Thanks for your video.
big refineries with big money have resources, along with access to certain chemicals in large quantities, and are able to maximize their profits from having such a refined recipe. I've seen a few homebrewers get almost $2k worth of precious metals from one cat off a honda odyssey minivan (they have 3,). diesels and most newer vehiclesare worth way more. The bigger the engine, The bigger the cat, The more precious metals is usually how it goes. there is alot of money in it, if you know what you are doing or you have money. In 20 min you can get 4 cats that's about $600. that guy can buy an oz of meth for $150. $30/g=$840+$450= $1300/day and you barely got out of bed. You are only limited by your own will at that point. That's why criminals exist. Nowadays it would take you a week to make $600-$1200 at a regular job and your have to pay taxes.
wow very interesting, my husband just found a rock that we were thinking was a meteorite, but we have to send it in to get tested and it has rhodium in it. so was skimming through UA-cam on rhodium and came across your vid. super interesting thanks for recording the whole process
@@martinfielding514 Read the book, Refining Precious Metal Wastes by C.M. Hoke. It will be a good introduction into the chemistry of the refining processes for different precious metals. Platinum group metals require different treatment than Gold or Silver, which are kinda simple in comparison, but its still a great book to read if this subject interests you.
don't use oxy acetylene to smelt Pt nor graphite crucibles. carbon from oxy acetylene can create a charge (Pt conducts electricity) use crystal quartz fused dish, crucible, etc when smelting Pt
that’s why you need to “FIND” them for free 🥴 only way to make money evidently HEY!! great video thanks for taking the time and risking your health for us all 🥰
Very cool video! One thing I'm left wondering is what group of metals are these? I rewatched the video 4 or 5 times and I didn't hear any mention of the specific group that these metals belong to. Thanks!
We did physical chemical analysis in private laboratories of our raw material through atomic absorption with 10 samples of 1 kg each, and the result was an average of 30% CD, 35% RH, 7% RU, 7% AU, the rest was diluted in others. minerals of little interest such as lead and silver. A doubt arises since RH is related to the platinum family, however with this raw material the PT is not present. What is the absence of the PT?
If you made a drinking game, a drink for everytime he said solution or platinum group metals, not even both, just one or the other, i think youd probably have to go to the hospital after about 20 mins!!😁😁 Awesome video tho! Im just messin around!
Hello my friend, thank you for sharing your informative video, I just have one question that I hope you will answer and the question is, what should be the concentration of potassium hydroxide? thank you
Thank you! I appreciate you watching. I used a 45% potassium hydroxide solution. I basically poured it util the whole solution turned blue and I felt everything precipitated out. I’m by no means a professional chemist, this was an experiment based on a article I read. I hope that helps👍
If you heated your Palladium button close to burn temp. it will get an oxide layer on it too, the Rhodium was heated that high so it turned oxide color of Palladium in it.
@@jandlcrafting1332 I personally hate melting palladium in particular because of the very nasty ability of it to absorb all the carbon and oxygen that ever touches it's molten surface which both are immediately expelled upon solidifying which turns the blob into a porous dirty mess and also you lose a bunch of metal due to splashing! By the way I can tell you somewhat better way to extract PGMs from cats with no losses if you want! And it's also much faster than here!
I had a heap of silver platinum contacts... im happy to dissolve pgms in aquaria after getting the silver out. Then just cementing the pgms out as a group on copper. As far as I'm brave enough to go with this stuff. Calcite then melt a pgm bead is next step.
Or you could create more slots that the acid has to work through leaving them in the honeycomb shape allows the metals to be extracted without obstruction 🤔
Very interesting! I always thought CATs were worth a lot more. A couple hundred dollars a piece. I thought I heard recently of a BMW or something being worth a thousand or more. I guess they vary a lot? A lot of work! I guess it's a passion.
they are different prices, but yeah, those he had should be worth way more than he paid for them..that's why I said I would just sell them whole and make a tidy profit rather than putting all that time and work, and buying all those chemicals, to do what he did...
I could have taken all them converts into the core Recycling center and got around 7-8 hundred. But I guess, you were just doing this as a experiment. And it wasn't for the money, for the most part. (Hopefully) Because that was alot of work. And also you have the cost of the 5-gal bucks, the Barrel,the acid, the bleach, oxygen and satalean. So really you went in the hole on this one. But it was pretty cool to watch.👍🙊🙉🙈
Very interesting. I was always wondering how you could extract the precious metals out of the catalytic converters. I’m sure there’s a faster process, but at what cost would it be worth it to invest the time and effort.
Hi, thank you for your Video. I find That when I use HCl & Cl leach I add Ice to keep the Solution Cold, then I do not have Chlorine gas coming off I trust you will find this very useful
Got to love anyone who works near high heat and molten ore in flip flops and shorts
Sure are a lot of chemists, refiners & safety consultants in the comment section that haven’t made a single video about chemistry, refining or safety in their profile!
Way to get it done and put out a great video. Thanks for sharing what you’ve learned.
yeah it's only acid, PGM's and oxy torch, I don't know why they are worried?
@@-ChookaHello, I am having trouble melting platinum. At what temperature does platinum melt?
@@armancarmanc5895 just over 3200f. good luck
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I found myself compelled to watch to the very end, just to see what you ended up with (and if you managed not to hurt yourself!). I work for a company that provides software for the big precious metal refiners and recyclers--folks who take in tons and tons of catalytic converters, and folks who refine what those other folks produce. I have toured the plant of at least one major refiner, which was an eye-opening experience. I have had many of the processes explained to me as I observed the giant vats and crucibles and tanks that they are conducted in. But I took enormous satisfaction from seeing the process done in the way you did it--step by step, at home, using materials generally available--sort of. To see a single small beaker of fluid filtered through an ordinary paper filter into a small glass flask on a workbench often has more explanatory value than reams of narrative about industrial-scale operations. Plus it is fun to watch things like dissolving zinc in hydrochloric acid, instead of staring at huge tanks where nothing seems to be happening. I found completely hilarious the nonchalant juxtaposition of industrial-grade respirator, bullet-proof face mask, and Playtex gloves with...cutoffs and flip-flops. Obviously certain areas of the body were more important to protect than others! Anyway, I found the whole thing fascinating and I admire your courage and determination to see it through to the break-even point (I wasn't paying strict attention, but it did not seem to me that there was a profit margin). Obviously you could reduce your up front costs by simply stealing converters out from under parked cars--just kidding. Onward and upward.
Thanks a lot. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. I will be doing platinum group metals again this summer. I will only do them about once a heat but I’m glad you enjoyed it. 👍
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Can't believe I read all of this plus stayed to end but I kid I did it to 😂
I can after trying to get to core myself while pouring sweat and nonstop subliminal tunes in my ear holes " how many licks toget to the center of a lollipop?" 1........2.......💥
Can't believe I watched the whole thing and read this too. Since this is bad for your health, do scientists in a typical job would also have health problems over time?
A very interesting video. I stopped refining PGMs years ago due to safety and them just being a complete PITA to work with. A small piece of advice that was taught to me: When you're adding the zinc be sure to put a cover over the beaker, such as a watch glass, as the bubbling can and does cause some metals to spit out of the top. It can be more than you'd think and when dealing with platinum salts it's best to not have to clean any up. Nowadays I just go for the gold and silver. Everything else just keeps collecting in my stockpot as black sludge and when I get enough I sell it to refiners. I consider it to be waste so even if I don't get a great price for it I figure it's still better than nothing and this way I don't need to worry about putting any effort or risk into refining it.
There is zero need to actially crush the catylist elements. Simply bake them out to remove carbon or oil residue then put in your bucket with chlorine so the acid flows through. A plastic paint mixing tool is great. Brick one or pre-cat has rhodium and platinum, brick 2 has either platinum or palladium or a mix. To process the Pt/Pd cats use acid plus chlorine. For Rh use peroxide plus HCl first, then switch to HCl plus chlorine. Recover using electrolysis, PMs plate on the cathode, and oxygen/chlorine on the anode. When appreciable hydrogen forms on the cathode and solution loses most of its color you are done.🤓
Hi Christopher,
You seem like someone who understands these things. That's why I would like to know if the following is correct? (Which chatGPT at least recommends to me).
I have half a kilo of thermocouple wire that consists of pure platinum and rhodium. I would like to separate these with aqua regia method.
So ChatGPT advise me the following.
Mix equal parts of sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid in a suitable container. Add the thermocouple wire to the aqua regia.
Let the thermocouple wire sit in the aqua regia for 1 to 2 hours.
Remove the thermocouple wire from the solution and rinse it with water.
Let the thermocouple wire dry.
The remaining material, which now contains platinum, can be further processed.
And the thermocouple wire that was taken out is pure rhodium.
Is this a correct way?
Thx
@@jankobachev4289 the platinum rhodium alloy is usually 90%Pt and 10%Rh. I would alloy your metal with a base metal such as aluminum if it is thicker wire. If it is hair fine skip this step. Disolve the base metal with regular HCl as you would do for preparinh Reiney nickel catalyst. Rinse the pm powder left behind with dilute HCl then disolve what is left or superfine wire using HCl and nitric acid. Most of the rhodium will not disolve, filter the Rh and RhCl2 out. To the remaining solution add dropwise a bit of 10% H2O2, this will precipitate any RhCl2 that may be in solution as a deep red precipitate that looks a lot like vermillion. Stop when there is no reaction or you get a greenish black precitate. Now add a little more HNO3 to it. Any platinum will redissolve, the rhodium will remain as a precipitate. Heat the pooled rhodium with a bit of ammonia or urea to convert to the metal. Filter and keep or disolve this in a minimal amount of concentrated sulfuric acid and plate out on a graphite rod. As for the Pt it can be reduced to metal using urea and sodium metabisulfite in solution with a little heat or you can harvest electronically by plating out similar to RH. 🤓
@@christopherleubner6633 please tell me you have a UA-cam channel. If not, wen?
I think he probably destroyed the roadium your don't want nitric acid anywhere near your rhodium palladium or Platinum group
I didn't find this video, it found me. I'm glad it did, very interesting. It taught me I'm not smart enough, patient enough, and careful enough to be mixing chemicals.
Same
Longest video I have watched on UA-cam. I am proud of you! Keep producing the content! Thank you
Thank you!
As a professional analytical chemist and former meth cook, this was a nail biter. I admire your dedication to the project and.... strangely... to safety. Totally surprised when I seen the home made fume hood. I believe you have a future in engineering or chemistry... if u survive. Hopefully you avoid the prison time I had to endure. Best of luck. And I advise you read the organic chem lab survival guide if you have not. It has some good techniques and tips that probably would had proved beneficial in your experiment, You filtering from the large container to the 5 gallon buckets will forever haunt me. Chemical spills and splash are no joke. Could mean serious injury, blindness or death.
Ps: hope you take this as constructive criticism and doesnt discourage you at all.
Yeah that bucket transfer got me too.. and then i noticed he was fully geared up ! Still wondering about the exposed knees though!🤔
Same here. Also as former Meth chef (15+yrs ago) and pt home hobbiest.
That pour made me pucker. Specially with the holes in the pants. The entire time I was thinking about the possibile other ways this process could be easier/safer/faster. But not to knock this guy. Helleva job and dedication sir. I watched the entire video. I was also admiring the homemade fume hood. Nice!
@tjGreene1900 curious how you got into professional analytical chemistry? I'd love to get into the chemistry field. Currently working for global F300 company. Unfortunately nothing to do with chemistry.
Cheers again to new owner of PGM. You definitely intriged me.
Thank you
Lol i get you have to use the old clothes for dirty work, but this is not what i had in mind! Lol they are even acid dipped:)
Hi TJ,
You seem like someone who understands these things. That's why I would like to know if the following is correct? (Which chatGPT at least recommends to me).
I have half a kilo of thermocouple wire that consists of pure platinum and rhodium. I would like to separate these with aqua regia method.
So ChatGPT advise me the following.
Mix equal parts of sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid in a suitable container. Add the thermocouple wire to the aqua regia.
Let the thermocouple wire sit in the aqua regia for 1 to 2 hours.
Remove the thermocouple wire from the solution and rinse it with water.
Let the thermocouple wire dry.
The remaining material, which now contains platinum, can be further processed.
And the thermocouple wire that was taken out is pure rhodium.
Is this a correct way?
Thx
Its been many years since i messed with cats, i was getting no less than 50 and some were worth over 200 a piece. Nice video
Thanks for your time showing us the process and time it takes to get this metal out the cats. So much time invested that it’s not worth messing with this things. Now we know why some cats are worth a fortune.
At all times i was expecting the 'shake hands with danger' guitar riff😂
Nice chem channel!
Good job overall. You suffered the most losses in the melt. The proper procedure for the Pd and Pt salts is to slowly roast them which will convert the salts to elemental metal. Putting the high heat right on the salts vaporizes the salts and there can be extremely big losses. The same thing happens with silver chloride although that's converted to elemental silver differently.
Cool thanks
would the salts not turn molten only to harden back into the original Pt or Pd salt?
@@gazorpazorpfield4414 No. The salts need to be roasted and brought up to temperature slowly. Once vaporization occurs the material is lost.
I was thinking it should've been heated a little slower.
The fact of no incineration of organic compounds before the leach didn’t help much either.
Thanks, interesting video. I think something that we can all agree on is that doing this kind of extraction is dangerous and not worth the risk. I appreciate your investment in time.
Cool experiment, I was expecting way more precious metals from 9 converters. A lot of work for very little reward, but thanks for sharing.
As an engineer, I thought your video was great! You showed how to use chemicals and processes to pull metals out of the ceramic in a catalytic converter. Very cool!
Many years ago, I was in the jewelry industry. We used a rhodium solution to plate white gold and sometimes platinum jewelry. At that time, the rhodium plating solution was expensive, but now it's crazy expensive! I was thinking that you could've sold the rhodium solution as an electroplating solution to the jewelry industry vs selling it as a piece of metal. Just a thought.
One final observation. When adding a strong chemical to a strong solution, don't do it from the container (pour the amount you need into a flask or beaker first). You don't want to be holding a bottle full of a chemical that begins to react from the fumes coming from the solution below.
I love how you used a Batman dinner plate into the process. Great vid
You are an impressively methodical patient man.
Great video,Thanks for your time and the explanations. Best regards!
I'm from Indonesia, processing precious metals from natural resources (stone, soil, sand, mud etc.)
Enjoyed that mate, your my new favourite back garden mad scientist
Dollar store peroxide works just as well as bleach for the oxidizer. It's also safer as it generates oxygen rather than chlorine
Awesome thank you
It still generates chlorine - it oxidizes HCl to Cl2.
You need too use the Mercury Vapor/Chlorine Gas Cartridge/Filter 60929S with a yellow color label if working with chlorine gas.
Some of those cats look like they may be low grade or aftermarket. Always keep that in mind . I just bought 4 from 2000 v8 silverados that are VERY valuable. Learn to find the numbers and check the apps or a scrapper you trust.😊 thanks for the VID!!!!
Awesome tip. Thank you.
What app you use ?
@@QwayWhidIt eco and DG. But there is a company in Nevada that pays more
Dg was raided by the feds and homeland for buying stolen materials..
It sounds like you got 9109 or 8379. Both on the lower end. But yes. I saw at least 3 after market in there.
Why do I feel like I'm watching a fan remake of a Breaking Bad episode. Seriously, very interesting stuff.
HAHAHAHAHA!!
Always wanted to know how this was done but will probably never do it myself. Thanks for this great video!!!
Thank you.
I watched the whole program and it was very interesting and far outside my wheel house but cool as all get out. Thanks a ton
Thanks
Great job man ! The good part I like to watch America’s videos is “ you didn’t get reach in just one work” congratulations, I couldn’t stop watching !
Thank you!
Crazy kewl vid. I thought alright I'll give it 4-5 minutes. 80 minutes later I'm leaving a comment. Very impressive. Thank you
Thank you
Got tired of filtering and waiting...bought a centrifuge on Ebay for $30.00
Now using 50ml tubes x 4 at a time. I can spin down 200ml at a time and get
clean ppt in 10 minutes or less.
Someone mentioned this way back on the thread.
Wow. Had no idea the process was so complicated. No wonder the value of these are so high, the breakdown, even at an industrial or commercial level is high. Learned a lot from this. Won’t be attempting any of it.
Mission ‘Impossible’ accomplished !
On your acetylene/oxy torch you need to open the oxygen more until the flame is blue. Open the oxy gently. If it pops and the torch goes out, you went too far or suddenly. When it's a red flame like that it's not as hot and put off soot and takes much longer to do anything requiring heat. Good video
Awesome thanks
We have ourselves another welder.. 😆 I was thinking the same thing. I remember filling paper cups with gas and hitting it wit torch for a load bang. Dumb things we do when we're younger. Have a good day
Thanks for video
Total weight of yield is far lower than it should be actually. color of rhodium indicate mix metals. get it XRF and possibly will need to re dissolve & precipitate pure Rhodium. Over all Great work done , i really appreciate. Good luck
Thanks. I was definitely expecting more. It was my first time and I’m trying to figure out where I went wrong.
Thanks for the video and all the time you spent producing it. I thought I was just going to open the CAT and take out the little ball of metal. 😂 🤣 😆 😹 . Had no idea I would have had to do all this work. Thanks again...I'll just sell it as is.
So intrigued I had to watch until the end. Pretty amazing stuff and the entire process was very cool to see. Thanks for sharing your fun project. Glad you came out ahead too!
Thank you!
Whey to much work for a break even project. A interesting idea though. Thank you. I can’t hardly wait for the next episode to pop up. Yeah I know how to get to your other episodes but sometimes I like to see what comes next. Thanks again Ron
I hope none of your converters were originally cut illegally off cars. Love the phrase "fresh batch", man that stuff was anything but "fresh". 🙂
@ +/- 38min:
"Fluffier"???Hmmm, fluffy metals? Is that a metallurgical science term? Lolz. 😉
On a more serious (and polite) note, I like your fume cabinet desig, did I miss you mention how you made that, and from what? I like your idea and it looks like i can use it without much modification as an exhaust system for my guitar finishing booth. The only thing that might be added is a filtration system of some sort.
Care to share some quick details with me? Thanks in advance for any help.
If you want to save some money on cutting wheels and drill bits, look up Bad Dog Tools. They sell them at a very premium price, but they are backed by an unconditional lifetime warranty. No matter how they get damaged, even if it's purely your fault, they will replace them. It's a small investment, but you will never buy another cutoff wheel or drill bit. If you want to do this again, first, wear protective clothing, those shorts and denim jeans weren't doing anything to protect you. Second, drill a hole towards the bottom of your barrel, and install a brass ball valve to make draining A LOT safer. You can also attach valves to the bottom of your 5 gallon buckets.
Thank you for the video. I love to learn and you did an excellent job with the safety and description. Next can you show how to salvage from computers.
Thank you for your video, from Chile South América 🎉
A drain valve on the barrel would really reduce the work and probability of injuries
hands down best part is wearing sandels when torching 2900 degrees of of molten rhodeium this had me going cuz i do the same thing lol (well not melting precious metals but u know what i ment).
Long yes, but interesting, thank you! BTW do you think that shorts and sandals are oxy-acetylene torch safety equipment ? Can you imagine spill that 2700 degrees hot metal pouring on (or maybe through) your foot? And those jeans... seems like you care about your eyes and lungs. But knees - who needs them right? Lets pour a barrell full of acid from meter high it will be fun as hell. :)
Not to mention the platinum salts in the acid!
I loved Rhodium. Especially on the Mary Tyler Moore show
excellent video!! congratulations, I am encouraged to remember the reactions, it is difficult to recognize the steps, just add a little of this to precipitate the other, or have it in the liquid solution, to obtain the good result. It is the alchemy that many seek to obtain performance. Today we ignore the magnitude that we do to the environment, I felt attacked when I visited a gold plant in my country when I saw a huge beach of waste. In the oil and gas industry similar in other respects. Then I'm trying to do alchemy for beers, if I don't have a yield at least I can drink it in my garage... regards
Gotta love the PPE with the shorts, sandals and air conditioned jeans!!😜
But seriously how easy would it be to get platinosis from this process? Like a drop on your skin or a bunch on your skin? Just breathing a little of the fumes or requires long term breathing of the fumes? Pretty cool vid!
Really great video man, the best I found right now. I guess maybe this kind founfdry process made you lost a little bit of metal.
I enjoyed watching it. Good job!!
Awesome thanks
Knowing how dangerous it is and my dude is still wearing shorts #RECKLESS i respect it.
Refining metals is a hazardous activity. Expensive too.
Absolutely love everything about this. Very well explained and executed. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us.
Thank you so much!
Good vid, man...I can't believe you did all that hot work with flip flops on!😂
Thanks for the info.
Reminds me of me, there's a fine line between genius and insanity... I use that line as a jump rope just to amuse myself watching people's reactions. I have a feeling he might have done this a time or two. 🤪
(Jokingly submitted)
Rhodium has made a come back from the 15,000$, that it had dropped down to from a high topping $ 30,000, I think it now back up over 20,000$ USD,crazy to think that a kilo of rhodium is over $ 475,000 great video
Thank you!
dont forget- you had alot of initial expenses that you need to incorporate into the next so many jobs. Like the mapp and torch gas. you didnt use it all on this one time. also- the torch gases are refillable, so no need to buy tanks again- just the cost to get them refilled- which is alot less. so by you having a profit, right out of the gate, is a good thing because your profit margin from here on out will be higher. good job!
Hello Hello From Canada!!! Thank you for doing so much work and sharing this experiment us. I think you could make a load of money if you found vehicles "free to a good home" on marketplace and harvesting all the parts for later processing. Not only catalytic converters have the precious metals. Crushing up electronic components and circuit boards can net gold or copper as well. I think there would have been a better yield if you had pulverized the materials before adding the chemicals.
Don’t know if anyone said it yet but take the hose and fill it with water. Plug the end going to the filter and quickly put the other end down into the solution. Unplug the filter end and boom syphoning solution!
Hey there you did an awesome job and I appreciate your efforts.
Here is a good video bro keep it up. To show this knuckle heads not to steel catalytic converters and understand it's not easy money and should be thinking about getting a. JOB
Cool experiment, i was hoping youd get more out of them.👍
that's an interesting process (I like science and chemical reactions).
I think you should use distilled water to avoid dust when you put out the core of the filters, maybe soak it before removing it.
after, you can crush the blocks into a fine powder, and process it like you did.
Crush all the ceramic to a fine powder before chemical processing
Yea he missed so much metals its not even funny!!!
been interesting watching the steps you take, when i am making fire works and shells i have to be very exact on weight, once you have a large bowl/beeker with a solution do you weight the container to get the correct amount of tin or zinch by a formula to get the reaction you looking for.?
Awesome video, I think wherever you bought the Cat's they sold you aftermarket cat's and they probably knew the price ahead of what it would cost after all said and done, Like other comments there are Cat converters worth 3- $400, my pickup truck original Cat scrapped for $180, I found out later that it was worth a lot more the scrap yard was ripping people off, but anyways I replaced it with an aftermarket cat, when the aftermarket cat **** the bed, it scrapped for $50, so you need to be careful who you're buying your cats from unless you know what you're getting, people at the scrap yard can look at the Cat and tell you if it's an original or aftermarket, so if you can study the difference between aftermarket and original cat when you're purchasing them you can make a lot more money after refining them. They probably knew what the payoff would be after all was said and done that's my opini. looking forward to some of your other video. be safe.👍✌
Wow, very cool video. It was long, sure, but it kept my attention, because I wanted to see the whole process. This is typically how it goes I find, for extracting metals small scale. Like getting hold off computer parts. By the time you're done with chemicals etc. You pretty much break even. It looks like so much when it's raw, then less as powder, but still impressive looking. Then when you melt it, it's just a tiny bit, lol. But that tiny bit, still made you a little profit. Man, rodium is worth a lot. I was expecting it to not be worth as much, but it's worth the most and there's so little.
Thank you
My only suggestion would be to use a different tip on that oxy/acet torch. If you must use that cutting torch, stay off the cutting handle and dial that flame back to a softer, quieter flame.
New viewer here. Your video just showed up in my UA-cam timeline so I thought I'd have a look....1 hour and 18 minutes later and I'm still here!!
This was a fascinating view into what it takes to actually separate out some of the different chemicals in "everyday" objects, at home & without the benefit of a professional laboratory! Well done, Sir!⁹
You may have only made a small "profit" on the exercise but I suspect that wasn't the point. You seem to have really enjoyed the process and despite having a full time job you managed to keep your experiment going for over a month! The look on your face, and the tone of your voice were priceless when you realised that you were actually going to produce Rhodium!
I have subbed to your channel and will have a look at your other videos. You can count me as impressed!!
Thanks a lot!
Oh man. That's an A+ for effort. I really enjoyed watching the process. But as far as value? I really wish it was there. Hold onto the metals until the value rises again. I know I didn't have to tell you that. I'm just rooting for the win for ya. 👍
It was a magnificent job that you did. If this process is not as profitable, how is it possible that people continue to steal catalytic converters from cars? Thanks for your video.
big refineries with big money have resources, along with access to certain chemicals in large quantities, and are able to maximize their profits from having such a refined recipe. I've seen a few homebrewers get almost $2k worth of precious metals from one cat off a honda odyssey minivan (they have 3,). diesels and most newer vehiclesare worth way more. The bigger the engine, The bigger the cat, The more precious metals is usually how it goes. there is alot of money in it, if you know what you are doing or you have money. In 20 min you can get 4 cats that's about $600. that guy can buy an oz of meth for $150. $30/g=$840+$450= $1300/day and you barely got out of bed. You are only limited by your own will at that point. That's why criminals exist. Nowadays it would take you a week to make $600-$1200 at a regular job and your have to pay taxes.
@@b-rad7708 one cat from a prius is worth $1600
Why do people steal them if it is not very profitable? Because people buy them regardless.
The poor homebrewer that got that barrel after you used it for this. From cradle to grave I do hope you did the right thing.
wow very interesting, my husband just found a rock that we were thinking was a meteorite, but we have to send it in to get tested and it has rhodium in it. so was skimming through UA-cam on rhodium and came across your vid. super interesting thanks for recording the whole process
Absolutely. Thank you
@@jandlcrafting1332 do you have an email address so we can discuss this process more
@@martinfielding514 Read the book, Refining Precious Metal Wastes by C.M. Hoke. It will be a good introduction into the chemistry of the refining processes for different precious metals. Platinum group metals require different treatment than Gold or Silver, which are kinda simple in comparison, but its still a great book to read if this subject interests you.
Well it ain’t no meteorite, it’s a frozen chunk of poopy
@@catch22frubert thanks will look into it, would still very much like to discuss this with @J and L Crafting 😀
Great job and a very interesting video.
You probly get 1000 in Atlanta with the unincorporated buyers just as they are when you got them that's the low reckoning.
don't use oxy acetylene to smelt Pt nor graphite crucibles. carbon from oxy acetylene can create a charge (Pt conducts electricity) use crystal quartz fused dish, crucible, etc when smelting Pt
that’s why you need to “FIND” them for free 🥴 only way to make money evidently HEY!! great video thanks for taking the time and risking your health for us all 🥰
Did you hear about rhodium nanocubes and uv light catalysing co2 into methane?!
I love the PPE and sandals 😂
great video, is it possible to make a meteorite rock using iron and other metals, just like the real one.
Very cool video! One thing I'm left wondering is what group of metals are these? I rewatched the video 4 or 5 times and I didn't hear any mention of the specific group that these metals belong to. Thanks!
Precious metals
Pretty sure that was sarcasm guys. Lol..
This kind of made me feel a little better about the little cash I made from recycling cans. :)
We did physical chemical analysis in private laboratories of our raw material through atomic absorption with 10 samples of 1 kg each, and the result was an average of 30% CD, 35% RH, 7% RU, 7% AU, the rest was diluted in others. minerals of little interest such as lead and silver. A doubt arises since RH is related to the platinum family, however with this raw material the PT is not present. What is the absence of the PT?
Platinum is no longer used in catalytic converters. Palladium is more common now
If you made a drinking game, a drink for everytime he said solution or platinum group metals, not even both, just one or the other, i think youd probably have to go to the hospital after about 20 mins!!😁😁 Awesome video tho! Im just messin around!
Thank you
Platinum group metals!!!!!!! New drinking game!
I love the video, by the way. And yes, I'm childish. Great job though!! 👏
Thank you!
Low temperature is your friend when settling tiny particles. You could even try freezing a dilute solution.
Hello my friend, thank you for sharing your informative video, I just have one question that I hope you will answer and the question is, what should be the concentration of potassium hydroxide? thank you
Thank you! I appreciate you watching. I used a 45% potassium hydroxide solution. I basically poured it util the whole solution turned blue and I felt everything precipitated out. I’m by no means a professional chemist, this was an experiment based on a article I read. I hope that helps👍
Thank you for sharing this with us.
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching.
Isn’t that a dust mask? They don’t stop gases do they?
Very cool video. I always wondered why the theft of catalytic converters are on the rise nowadays. Cool video the science behind it all. Be safe.
The flame on a torch , blue is hot , yellow is not . You made No profit it cost huge but was cool and very dangerous , good job !
If you heated your Palladium button close to burn temp. it will get an oxide layer on it too, the Rhodium was heated that high so it turned oxide color of Palladium in it.
Thanks for the advice
@@jandlcrafting1332 I personally hate melting palladium in particular because of the very nasty ability of it to absorb all the carbon and oxygen that ever touches it's molten surface which both are immediately expelled upon solidifying which turns the blob into a porous dirty mess and also you lose a bunch of metal due to splashing!
By the way I can tell you somewhat better way to extract PGMs from cats with no losses if you want! And it's also much faster than here!
I’m all ears!
Enjoyed video and was educational to me and now I know cadilac converters is not that profitable
I had a heap of silver platinum contacts... im happy to dissolve pgms in aquaria after getting the silver out. Then just cementing the pgms out as a group on copper. As far as I'm brave enough to go with this stuff. Calcite then melt a pgm bead is next step.
That’s awesome
I'm a new sub bro and I like that plan b on the recovering
All I can say it's a lot of work 👍
You could use a hammer mill to turn the cat-converter screens into fine powder, maybe make the process more efficient and speed up the process? 🤔
That's what I was thinking, use a ball grinder (like the old stone polishers) and just the ball bearings powder those screens
Or you could create more slots that the acid has to work through leaving them in the honeycomb shape allows the metals to be extracted without obstruction 🤔
Great Job, thanks from Mexico 🎉
Thank you.
Very interesting! I always thought CATs were worth a lot more. A couple hundred dollars a piece. I thought I heard recently of a BMW or something being worth a thousand or more. I guess they vary a lot? A lot of work! I guess it's a passion.
I thought the Toyota Prius was the money maker,but I'm not sure.
they are different prices, but yeah, those he had should be worth way more than he paid for them..that's why I said I would just sell them whole and make a tidy profit rather than putting all that time and work, and buying all those chemicals, to do what he did...
i would like to see you extract palladium from alluvial black sands some day, grate work ur doing
I could have taken all them converts into the core Recycling center and got around 7-8 hundred. But I guess, you were just doing this as a experiment. And it wasn't for the money, for the most part. (Hopefully) Because that was alot of work. And also you have the cost of the 5-gal bucks, the Barrel,the acid, the bleach, oxygen and satalean. So really you went in the hole on this one. But it was pretty cool to watch.👍🙊🙉🙈
Very interesting. I was always wondering how you could extract the precious metals out of the catalytic converters. I’m sure there’s a faster process, but at what cost would it be worth it to invest the time and effort.
It a lot of work and time but awesome work by him
Thank you
hopefully you're still sitting on these pieces of metal as the prices are way up since you filmed this, rhodium is around 600$/g right now
Where does the after waste n solutions go after your finished with the process?
Hi, thank you for your Video. I find That when I use HCl & Cl leach I add Ice to keep the Solution Cold, then I do not have Chlorine gas coming off I trust you will find this very
useful
Awesome thanks