Researchers develop method to recycle platinum using microwave oven

A Japanese research team has succeeded in collecting platinum contained in automotive emission control systems by using a home-use microwave oven to significantly reduce the cost and time of recycling.The conventional cycling process of dissolving and refining the platinum group metals takes well over 20 hours, but the research team led by Masatoshi Endo, a Yamagata University associate professor, says its new method needs less than 10 minutes.(Endo)Before being heated in an oven, catalytic converters, typically made of ceramics coated with precious metals, are cut into pieces and covered w…READ FULL ARTICLE