Crude Iridium Recycling

Crude iridium refers to iridium metal extracted from ore or other iridium minerals without being refined or refined. It usually has a high proportion of impurities such as precious metals such as platinum, palladium, gold and other metal elements, and has a low purity. The extraction of crude iridium usually goes through preliminary processing stages such as smelting and chemical decomposition, but does not go through a fine refining process and requires further processing to improve its purity. Crude iridium is widely used in iridium smelting, alloy production, and other industrial applications such as catalyst production and iridium target production. Although crude iridium itself has a low purity, it is the basic raw material for extracting high-purity iridium metal, and high-purity iridium metal can be obtained by further refining.

Some commonly used methods for refining crude iridium are listed below:

1. Acid leaching: Acid leaching is a common method for extracting crude iridium metal from ore. In this process, the ore or crude iridium alloy is dissolved in a strong acid (such as aqua regia, a mixture of concentrated hydrochloric acid and concentrated nitric acid). Under the action of the acid, iridium dissolves to form iridium ions, and other impurities such as metals and platinum group elements are also dissolved. Then, the iridium is reduced from the solution by solution separation and reduction reaction to form crude iridium. The advantage of acid leaching is that it can efficiently extract iridium, but the reaction conditions must be carefully controlled to avoid excessive oxidation of iridium and co-precipitation with other metals.

2. Smelting method: The smelting method is used to extract iridium metal from crude iridium alloy. In this process, crude iridium and other metal alloys are melted at high temperature and mixed with a suitable flux such as a basic oxide. By smelting at high temperature, iridium metal and other insoluble impurities can be separated. Iridium metal usually precipitates from the molten metal in the form of a precipitate, which is then cooled and separated to obtain crude iridium. The smelting method is suitable for recovering crude iridium alloys or iridium-containing metals.

3. Solvent extraction: Solvent extraction is a method commonly used to separate iridium metal from solutions containing iridium and other precious metals. In this process, crude iridium is first dissolved in a suitable acidic solution, and then an organic solvent is mixed into the solution to extract iridium from the solution by the principle of phase distribution. Various solvents selectively form complexes with iridium, which allows iridium to be separated from other impurities. After appropriate post-treatment and reduction reactions, relatively pure iridium metal can be obtained.

4. Chlorination method: The chlorination method is used to extract iridium from iridium-containing minerals or crude iridium alloys. In this method, crude iridium reacts with chlorine gas to form iridium chloride (IrCl₃), which is then reduced to metallic iridium by reduction reactions. In this process, the flow rate of chlorine and the reaction temperature must be precisely controlled to ensure that iridium reacts completely with chlorine and does not form compounds that are difficult to separate with other impurities. The chlorination method is usually used for the initial separation and purification of iridium.

5. Electrorefining: Electrorefining is used to increase the purity of crude iridium. When crude iridium is placed as the anode of an electrolysis cell and a suitable electrolyte (such as a chloride solution or an acid solution) is used, the electric current dissolves the iridium ions and transfers them from the anode to the cathode, resulting in the precipitation of high-purity iridium metal. During the electrolysis process, other impurities remain in the electrolyte or form precipitates on the anode and are gradually removed. Electrorefining can effectively improve the purity of iridium and is suitable for the purification of more refined iridium.

Waste crude iridium is one of the important sources of recycling iridium-containing waste. Recycling of iridium-containing waste also includes iridium-rhodium alloy recycling, iridium rod recycling, iridium gold recycling, iridium block recycling, iridium tube recycling, iridium crucible recycling, iridium powder recycling, and iridium wire recycling. If you need to recycle iridium-containing waste, please call our 24-hour service hotline. Ding Feng precious metal recycling and refining manufacturers have their own recycling and refining plants without any middlemen that create price differences, and have a professional technical team and customer service personnel to provide one-to-one service and ensure customer privacy during the recycling process.