Catalytic converters contain precious metals: the catalysts incorporate a ceramic (or metallic) honeycomb structure whose surface layer contains platinum, palladium and rhodium. These platinum-group metals (PGM/PGM) are highly sought-after, recycled and valorized.
For recycling companies, identifying these high value-added metals quickly, reliably and without incurring significant costs is a growing economic challenge. "This market requires tools that ensure rapid and accurate identification. Quantum-RX, with its "SciAps X-50" portable XRF analyzer, enables efficient analysis of these metals in just a few seconds. Thanks to this low-cost instrument, recycling is more profitable and simplifies the recovery of precious metals. "says the company.
Sample comparison: X-50 versus laboratory
The capabilities of the Quantum-RX analyzer have been evaluated on a series of real samples, prepared and analyzed for 60 seconds. The material had to be ground, sieved and homogenized for accurate, representative results. The study was carried out on 13 catalytic converter samples, with the X-50 analyzer configured in a dedicated "catalyst" factory calibration. Compared with laboratory results, the X-50 shows a correlation for all three elements of over 0.99.
The X-50 can also analyze critical elements, indicative of the nature of the honeycomb structure (ceramic or metallic) and coating. Identification is thus more complete and precise. The device also takes into account matrix effects, which can lead to deviations in precious metals measurement.
What's more, according to Quantum RX, with its 50 kV excitation voltage, the device offers better analysis of other heavy elements in samples such as barium, cerium and lanthanum, which can play an important role in the matrix effects of XRF analysis.
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https://quantum-rx.com