Cyclonic Electrolytic Recovered Reduced Platinum and Water Electrolysis Method Using the Same

This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0039200 filed on Mar. 21, 2024, and all the benefits accruing therefrom under 35 U.S.C. § 119, the contents of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum and a water electrolysis method using the same, wherein platinum is reduced through a cyclonic process, and the reduced platinum is used to produce a water electrolysis catalyst for performing water electrolysis.

Generally, high-grade concentrates with a high content of precious metals are obtained from platinum-containing ores mined from mineral deposits using gravity separation and flotation methods. A commonly used smelting technique for processing precious metal-containing concentrates is the cyanidation method using sodium cyanide.

However, the cyanidation method generates a large amount of pollutants, necessitating the development of an environmentally friendly recovery process.

Meanwhile, electrolysis is a well-known method for recovering precious metals from leachates, but it has drawbacks such as long processing times and large spatial requirements.

Therefore, through extensive efforts and research over a long period, the applicant of the present disclosure has obtained cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum by using a cyclone process for platinum reduction, manufacturing a water electrolysis catalyst from the reduced platinum, and performing water electrolysis using the catalyst. Through these efforts, the present disclosure has been successfully completed.

Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1692354 (Dec. 28, 2016).

Accordingly, a purpose of the present disclosure is to provide cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum, which is obtained by reducing platinum using a cyclone process.

In addition, another purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a water electrolysis method using cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum, wherein platinum is reduced using a cyclone process, and the reduced platinum is used to manufacture a water electrolysis catalyst for performing water electrolysis.

The challenges that the present disclosure is intended to solve are not limited to those mentioned above, and other challenges not mentioned will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the purpose, an aspect of the present disclosure provides a cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum, wherein a reaction solution containing platinum metal ions is subjected to electrolytic refining and recovered using a cyclone high-speed electrolyzer using high-speed turbulence.

In some exemplary embodiments, the cyclone high-speed electrolyzer using high-speed turbulence may comprise:

an anode in a shape of a rod; and

a cathode including a receiving hole for accommodating the anode to form a reaction space between the anode and the cathode,

wherein an area ratio of the anode to the cathode in the reaction space may be 1 to 100 (Anode/Cathode),

wherein a diameter ratio of Do (overflow) to Du (underflow) may be 0.001 to 1 (Do/Du),

wherein a cross section of the anode may be circular, and

wherein a cross section of the receiving hole may be circular, and the anode may be eccentrically positioned in the receiving hole.

In some exemplary embodiments, a turbulent flow velocity of the cyclone high-speed electrolyzer using high-speed turbulence may be 8 to 10 m/s.

In some exemplary embodiments, a helical downward vortex may be generated along a wall of the cyclone high-speed electrolyzer using high-speed turbulence for electrolytic recovery of platinum metal to accelerate the electrolyzer at high speed, thereby forming a high-speed turbulent flow, and the high-speed turbulent flow may reduce a diffusion layer to significantly improve electrolytic efficiency, thereby remarkably increasing a recovery rate of the platinum metal.

In some exemplary embodiments, a maximum distance between the anode and the cathode in the reaction space may be 2 to 100 times a minimum distance.

In some exemplary embodiments, the cathode may be formed with a feed configured to introduce a reactant into the reaction space in a diagonal direction.

In some exemplary embodiments, the anode may be made of stainless steel, graphite, or platinum.

In some exemplary embodiments, the cathode may be made of titanium coated with iridium.

In some exemplary embodiments, the anode may include a plurality of cylindrical grooves.

In some exemplary embodiments, an acid leaching agent may be introduced into the reaction space.

In some exemplary embodiments, the acid leaching agent may be hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, phosphoric acid, acetic acid, or organic acid.

In some exemplary embodiments, a concentration of the acid leaching agent may be 0.2 M to 5 M.

In some exemplary embodiments, a process of extracting powder of platinum metal concentrate using the acid leaching agent may be provided, and a condition for the process of the extracting may be characterized by:

a leaching time of 0.5 to 12 hours,

a pH of 0.5 to 6.5,

a solid-to-liquid ratio of 1/2.5 to 1/4, and

a temperature of 20° C. to 90° C.

In some exemplary embodiments, the reaction solution containing platinum metal ions may be introduced into the reaction space for the electrolytic refining.

In some exemplary embodiments, during the electrolytic refining, an applied voltage may be 1.75 V to 25 V, a current may be 0.5 to 10 A, and a reaction time may be 1 to 720 minutes.

In some exemplary embodiments, the platinum metal is leached and recovered simultaneously or separately during a process of electrolytic recovery.

In some exemplary embodiments, a recovery rate of the platinum metal may be 98 to 99.99 wt %.

In some exemplary embodiments, a particle size of the cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum is 0.2 to 100 μm.

In some exemplary embodiments, in a result of XPS analysis, the cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum may contain 80 to 93 wt % of platinum and 7 to 20 wt % of ruthenium.

In addition, another aspect of the present disclosure provides a water electrolysis method using cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum, comprising steps of:

In some exemplary embodiments, in the step (a-1) of preparing the cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum as a water electrolysis catalyst, a particle size of the cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum is 0.2 to 100 μm.

In some exemplary embodiments, in a result of XPS analysis, the cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum may contain 80 to 93 wt % of platinum and 7 to 20 wt % of ruthenium.

In some exemplary embodiments, in the step (a-2) of ultrasonically dispersing an electrode solution obtained by mixing the water electrolysis catalyst of the cyclonic electrolytic recovered reduced platinum, an alcohol solvent, and a Nafion solution,

the alcohol solvent may be at least one selected from a group consisting of methanol, ethanol, methylcyclohexanol, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, isopropanol, propanol, and butanol, and

time for ultrasonic dispersion time may range from 5 minutes to 2 hours.

In some exemplary embodiments, in the step (a-3) of introducing the ultrasonically dispersed electrode solution into a working electrode of a three-electrode cell and completely drying the working electrode, the three-electrode cell may comprise:

a rotating disk electrode (RDE, glassy carbon) as the working electrode;

a graphite rod as the counter electrode; and

Hg/HgO (1M KOH) as the reference electrode.

In some exemplary embodiments, 1M KOH (25° C.) purged with Nmay be used as electrolyte.