How is pre-burning of spent hydrocarbon process catalysts accomplished?
Answers
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24/07/2007
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A:
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Richard De Santis, Sabin Metal Corporation, rjdesantis@sabinmetal.com
Pre-burning is typically accomplished in a continuous kiln, large enough to accommodate multi-thousand pound lots of spent catalysts. Removing all of the carbon and moisture from the entire catalyst lot is a key factor towards achieving highest possible sampling accuracy. Unless contaminants are removed from spent catalysts, sampling accuracy will be reduced significantly; essentially, without pre-burning, it would not be possible to determine the precise quantity of remaining precious metals in the sample lot.
Since the pre-burning process is critical to sampling accuracy, the precious metals refiner should provide catalyst users with complete in-house pre-burning capabilities. When the refiner pre-burns spent catalysts at its facility, the need for transshipping tons of spent catalysts off-site to remove their contaminants, then subsequently shipping these materials to the refiner, is eliminated. Not only do these extra steps add extra costs, they can also double the time normally required for recovery and refining. During this time, the catalyst user would typically have to purchase (or lease) precious metals to continue production without interruption.
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