Platinum group metals bulk analysis in automobile catalyst recycling material by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

abstract Article history:Received 14 April 2008Accepted 17 September 2008Available online 9 October 2008Keywords:Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopyPlatinumPalladiumRhodium metal detectionAutomobile catalyst recycling Development and application of anin-situapplicable method to provide rapid determination of platinumgroup metals (platinum, palladium, and rhodium) elemental concentration in automobile catalyst scrap isreported. Application is based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Actual automobile catalystslurry in powder form was used to develop the application. With a method requiring approximately 1.5 minof examination per sample, calibration curves are presented with linear regression coef cients close to 0.99and stability better than 3.0%.© 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. IntroductionTheplatinumgroupofmetals(PGM)comprisesplatinum,palladium,rhodium, iridium, osmium, and ruthenium, of which platinum is themostimportant.Automobile catalystmanufacturingis today the largestsectorofdemandofPGMs.Automotivecatalystsusedinmotoremissioncontrol devices consist of platinum, palladium, or rhodium depositedonto Al