Mineworx Likely to be First CleanTech Solution to Recover Diesel Catalytic Converters
The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.
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Americans own over 276 million vehicles. Since 1977, cars and trucks sold in the U.S. needed to have catalytic converters.
A catalytic converter is one of the most important components of a vehicle. The device controls harmful emissions by breaking down toxic gases and converts them into carbon dioxide and water vapor before being emitted into the atmosphere.
Catalytic converters have an intrinsic value as they contain between 3 to 7 grams of platinum and 2 to 7 grams of palladium each. Today, platinum costs roughly $31 per gram and palladium costs $72. Fun fact: 80% of the world's supply of palladium and 50% of platinum are used in catalytic converters annually.
Catalytic converters often last for a little over 10 years, or between 70,000 and 100,000 miles. Every year, 27 million catalytic converters become available as scrap. But, less than 30% of the palladium and platinum in catalytic converters today are recovered. And that's worrying.
Downsides of Smelting
Today, the only commercial method to recover platinum and palladium from catalytic converters is smelting, a form of extracting metal in its purest form from its ore.
But, smelting is highly hazardous to the environment and is inefficient when recycling diesel catalytic converters.
Smelters find it difficult to process diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC) and diesel particulate filters (DPF). Moreover, diesel catalytic converters can create safety issues as trapped carbon can ignite and cause an explosion, which is why many refuse to accept diesel catalyst feedstock.
CleanTech Approach
To tackle this problem, Mineworx Technologies Ltd. (CVE: MWX) (OTCQB: MWXRF) (FSE: YRS) (WKN: A2DSW3) introduces a cleaner and commercially viable approach with its proprietary technology.
As input materials, Mineworx's processing technology uses core materials that are separated from the metal containers and ground to fine powder. The platinum and palladium are then extracted from the ground materials into a solution through chemical processes and then recovered from the solution using precipitation. The concentrate is ultimately sent to a refinery for upgrading and sale.
With this approach, Mineworx expects to recover 90% of the metals while eliminating environmentally unfriendly emissions from smelters.
Mineworx has completed the fabrication of its pilot plant in Vancouver and the initial testing has begun. Once it completes testing, the company anticipates shipping to its partners in Tennessee — Davis Recycling.
Davis Recycling is the leading catalytic converter recycler on the U.S. eastern seaboard and has been in the business for over 20 years and serves 13 states. As a result of the partnership, Mineworx secures the supply of diesel converters for additional future expansion.
Promising Future
Mineworx's plant is likely to be North America's largest diesel catalytic converter recycling facility. The plant is projected to process 10 tonnes per day (3,120 tonnes annually). Its feedstock grade is projected to be 1,500 grams per ton of platinum and 170 grams per ton of palladium at $900 and $2,000 per ounce prices, respectively. The company forecasts over $100 million in annual revenue.
With the growing stringent U.S. emissions regulations and boosting demand for platinum and palladium for new vehicles, Mineworx is positioned to be a leader in the massive untapped market and create more opportunities with its cleantech solutions.
To learn more about Mineworx, visit its website here.
The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.
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