The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 12, 2019
Filed:
Jun. 29, 2016
Heraeus Deutschland Gmbh & Co. KG, Hanau, DE;
Heraeus Precious Metals North America Llc, Santa Fe Springs, CA (US);
Norbert Ritschel, Robbins, TN (US);
Jimmy Taylor, Sunbright, TN (US);
Todd England, Sunbright, TN (US);
Brian Peters, Wartburg, TN (US);
Felix Stoffner, Aschaffenburg, DE;
Christoph Röhlich, Hanau, DE;
Steffen Voss, Limeshain, DE;
Holger Winkler, Darmstadt, DE;
Heraeus Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, Hanau, DE;
Heraeus Precious Metals North America LLC, Santa Fe Springs, CA (US);
Abstract
A process for production of a PGM (platinum group metal)-enriched alloy containing iron and PGM(s) (platinum, palladium and/or rhodium) includes steps of: (1) providing a sulfur-free PGM collector alloy, (2) providing a copper- and sulfur-free material capable of forming a molten slag-type composition including silicon dioxide and magnesium and/or calcium oxide, (3) melting the PGM collector alloy and slag-forming material within a converter until a multi-phase system of a lower high-density molten mass of PGM collector alloy and an upper low-density molten mass of slag-type composition has formed, (4) contacting an oxidizing gas with the lower high-density molten mass of step (3) until conversion of the PGM collector alloy into a PGM-enriched alloy, (5) separating an upper molten slag formed in step (4) from the PGM-enriched alloy by difference in density, (6) allowing the separated molten masses to cool down and solidify, and (7) collecting the solidified PGM-enriched alloy.