Dow Water Solutions

DOWEX Resins for Separation of Platinum Group Metals (PGM) from Liquid Media

Platinum Group Metals Technetium - Tc Ruthenium - Ru Rhodium - Rh Rhenium - Re Iridium - Ir Technetium (particularly Tc (VII)), Ruthenium (particularly Ru (IV)), Rhodium (particularly Rh(IV) and Rh(III)), Rhenium (particularly Re (VII)), and Iridium (particularly Ir (IV) and Ir (III)) can be ionically grouped with the Platinum Group Metals (PGM) because they form stable oxyanion complexes.

Applications

Acidic Halogen Leach: Many mining projects are underway in which ores are leached under oxidizing and acidic conditions. Under these conditions, DOWEX™ anion exchange resins have proven to be tough, steady performers. Downloadable information is available in Recovery of Precious Metals from Acidic Halogen Leach Solutions (364KB PDF).

Selective PGM Capture: Dow offers a Thiouronium functionalized resin designated as XUS-43600.00. This product is patterned after the PAZ type resin developed by Gloria Schmuchler. It is highly selective for for PGMs. The resin is a macroporous, uniform particle size bead so it has good exchange kinetics. It is a tough and rugged product for 'resin in pulp' applications. Note that the Thiouronium group is subject to base hydrolysis so the product should be used under acidic to neutral pH conditions. For alkaline applications other products are more suitable.

If you have a commercial PGM recovery application, please Contact Us via the link on this page. Please include information about your particular PGM removal application.

In chloride solutions PGMs form chloroanion complexes which are readily adsorbed on strong base anion exchangers such as DOWEX 21K XLT resin. Interestingly, the PGMs are also strongly adsorbed on weakly basic anion exchange resins such as DOWEX M-43 resin. Weakly basic anion exchangers are often effective in their conjugate acid forms (in acidic media) or in their free-base forms (neutral ligand-metal complexes). Elution of metal from the resin may require the use of a complexing agent such as alkaline citrate or acidic thiourea. In some cases, the best way to recover metal values from the resin is to thermally decompose the resin (fuming). Downloadable information is available on fuming in Recovery of Precious Metals from Acidic Halogen Leach Solutions (364KB PDF).

Product	Description	Type	Matrix	Total Exchange Capacity* eq/l (kgr/ft3)	Available Forms
XUS 43600.00	Uniform particle size, highly selective resin for platinum group metals.	Chelating Resin	Styrene-DVB, Macroporous	0.7	Cl-
DOWEX 21K XLT	Uniform particle size, high capacity, strong base anion exchange resin for mineral processing applications.	Type I Strong Base Anion	Styrene-DVB, Gel	1.4	Cl-
DOWEX M-43	Corrosion control with DOWEX M-43 ion exchange resin.	Weak Base Anion	Styrene-DVB, Macroporous	1.55	FB (Free Base) form