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Open-File Report 2013–1037

Potential for Recovery of Cerium Contained in Automotive Catalytic Converters

By Donald I. Bleiwas

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (227 KB)Abstract

Catalytic converters (CATCONs) are required by Federal law to be installed in nearly all gasoline- and diesel-fueled onroad vehicles used in the United States. About 85 percent of the light-duty vehicles and trucks manufactured worldwide are equipped with CATCONs.

Portions of the CATCONs (called monoliths) are recycled for their platinum-group metal (PGM) content and for the value of the stainless steel they contain. The cerium contained in the monoliths, however, is disposed of along with the slag produced from the recycling process. Although there is some smelter capacity in the United States to treat the monoliths in order to recover the PGMs, a great percentage of monoliths is exported to Europe and South Africa for recycling, and a lesser amount is exported to Japan. There is presently no commercial-scale capacity in place domestically to recover cerium from the monoliths.

Recycling of cerium or cerium compounds from the monoliths could help ensure against possible global supply shortages by increasing the amount that is available in the supply chain as well as the number and geographic distribution of the suppliers. It could also reduce the amount of material that goes into landfills. Also, the additional supply could lower the price of the commodity. This report analyzes how much cerium oxide is contained in CATCONs and how much could be recovered from used CATCONs.

First posted February 20, 2013

For additional information contact:
Donald Bleiwas
Telephone: (303) 236-5200

or

Director
National Minerals Information Center
U.S. Geological Survey
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192
Telephone: (703) 648-4961
Email: nmicrecordsmgt@usgs.gov
Internet: http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/

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Suggested citation:

Bleiwas, D.I., 2013, Potential for recovery of cerium contained in automotive catalytic converters: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2013–1037, 10 p., available only at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2013/1037.



Contents

Introduction

Use of Cerium Oxide in Catalytic Converters

Amount of Cerium Oxide Contained in a Catalytic Converter

Recycling of Catalytic Converters

Total Contained Cerium Oxide and Potentially Recoverable Cerium Oxide Equivalents

Summary

References Cited


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