A new technique for rhodium enrichment from wasted organic catalysts containing rhodium

For wasted organic catalysts containing rhodium, rhodium was enriched by reduction-grinding and separation. Additives promote iron grain growth and metallic iron enrich rhodium during the reduction process, and then iron ore concentrate containing rhodium is enriched by magnetic separation. The study obtains the optimum process parameters, i.e. the reduction temperature is 1200°C, the reduction time 6 h, the additive ratio 10%, the reductant dosage 5%, the milling time 45 min, and the magnetic field strength 1.28×105 A/m.The magnetic separated concentrate were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that a large amount of gangue is removed by magnetic separation, and the concentrate mainly contains iron and rhodium. At last the grades of the total iron in the iron concentrate are 88.67%, and the recovery rates of iron and rhodium are 92.74% and 92.08%, respectively. This process has the advantages of low temperature and high recovery, and it is regarded as a kind of the general efficient enrichment technique for wasted organic catalysts containing rhodium.